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Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17,
1790) was one of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the
United States. He was a leading printer, scientist, inventor,
civic activist and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major
figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and
theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and
activist he, more than anyone, developed the idea of an American
nation, and as a diplomat during the American Revolution secured
the French alliance that made independence possible.
One
of the oldest Founders, Franklin was noted for his curiosity,
his writings (popular, political and scientific), and his
diversity of interests. His wise and scintillating writings are
proverbial to this day. He shaped the American Revolution. As a
leader of the Enlightenment, he gained the recognition of
scientists and intellectuals across Europe. An agent in London
before the Revolution, and Minister to France during, he more
than anyone defined the new nation in the minds of Europe. His
success in securing French military and financial aid was the
turning point for American victory over Britain. He invented the
lightning rod; he was an early proponent of colonial unity;
historians hail him as the "First American". The city of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania marked Franklin's 300th birthday in
January 2006 with a wide array of exhibitions, and events citing
Franklin's extraordinary accomplishments throughout his
illustrious career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts to a devout Anglican tallow-maker,
Franklin learned printing from his older brother and became a
newspaper editor, printer, and merchant in Philadelphia,
becoming very wealthy. He spent many years in England and
published the famous Poor Richard's Almanack and the
Pennsylvania Gazette. He formed both the first public lending
library and fire department in America as well as the Junto, a
political discussion club.
He
became a national hero in America when he spearheaded the effort
to have Parliament repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. A diplomatic
genius, Franklin was almost universally admired among the French
as American minister to Paris, and was a major figure in the
development of positive Franco-American relations. From 1775 to
1776, Franklin was Postmaster General under the Continental
Congress and from 1785 to his death in 1790 was President of the
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
Franklin was interested in science and technology, carrying out
his famous electricity experiments and invented the Franklin
stove, medical catheter, lightning rod, swimfins, glass armonica
(not the harmonica, which was invented long after Franklin), and
bifocals. He also played a major role in establishing the higher
education institutions that would become the University of
Pennsylvania and the Franklin and Marshall College. In addition,
Franklin was a noted linguist, fluent in five languages. He also
practiced and published on astrology (see Poor Richard's
Almanac). He is typically recognized as a polymath.
Franklin was also noted for his philanthropy and several
liaisons, including that which produced his illegitimate
Loyalist son William Franklin, later the colonial governor of
New Jersey. Towards the end of his life, he became one of the
most prominent early American abolitionists.
****
Biography
Ancestry
Franklin's father, Josiah Franklin, was born at Ecton,
Northamptonshire, England on December 23, 1657, the son of
Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith and farmer, and Jane White. His
mother, Abiah Folger, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts on
August 15, 1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher and
his wife Mary Morrill, a former indentured servant. Both of his
parents were devout Christians. A descendent of the Folgers, J.
A. Folger, would go on to found Folgers Coffee in the 19th
century
Around 1677, Josiah married Anne Child at Ecton, and over the
next few years had three children. These half-siblings of
Benjamin Franklin included Elizabeth (March 2, 1678), Samuel
(May 16, 1681), and Hannah (May 25, 1683).
Sometime during the second half of 1683, the Franklins left
England for Boston, Massachusetts. They had several more
children in Boston, including Josiah Jr. (August 23, 1685), Ann
(January 5, 1687), Joseph (February 5, 1688), and Joseph (June
30, 1689) (the first Joseph having died soon after birth).
Josiah's first wife Anne died in Boston on July 9, 1689. He was
married to Abiah Folger on November 25, 1689 in the Old South
Church of Boston by the Rev. Samuel Willard.
Josiah and Abiah had the following children: John (December 7,
1690), Peter (November 22, 1692), Mary (September 26, 1694),
James (February 4, 1697), Sarah (July 9, 1699), Ebenezer
(September 20, 1701), Thomas (December 7, 1703), Benjamin
(January 17, 1706), Lydia (August 8, 1708), and Jane (March 27,
1712).
Early life
Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston,
Massachusetts on January 17, 1706 [1]. His father, Josiah
Franklin, was a tallow chandler, a maker of candles and soap,
whose second wife, Abiah Folger, was Benjamin's mother. Josiah's
marriages produced 17 children; Benjamin was the fifteenth child
and youngest son. He attended Boston Latin School but did not
graduate. Josiah wanted Ben to attend school with the clergy,
but only had enough money to send him to school for two years.
Ben didn't graduate but continued his education through
voracious reading. Although "his parents talked of the church as
a career" for Franklin, his schooling ended when he was ten. He
then worked for his father for a time and at 12 he became an
apprentice to his brother James, a printer. When Ben was 15,
James created the 'New England Courant', the first truly
independent newspaper in the colonies. While a printing
apprentice, he wrote under the pseudonym of 'Mrs. Silence
Dogood' who was ostensibly a middle-aged widow. His brother and
the Courant's readers did not initially know the real author.
James was not impressed when he discovered his popular
correspondent was his younger brother. Franklin left his
apprenticeship without permission and in so doing became a
fugitive.
At
the age of 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, seeking a new
start in a new city. When he first arrived he worked in several
printer shops around town. However, he was not satisfied by the
immediate prospects. After a few months, while working in a
printing house, Franklin was induced by Pennsylvania Governor
Sir William Keith to go to London, ostensibly to acquire the
equipment necessary for establishing another newspaper in
Philadelphia. Finding Keith's promises of backing a newspaper to
be empty, Franklin worked as a compositor in a printer's shop in
what is now the Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great in the
Smithfield area of London. Following this, he returned to
Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of a merchant named Thomas
Denham, who gave Franklin a position as clerk, shopkeeper, and
bookkeeper in Denham's merchant business.
Upon Denham's death, Franklin returned to his former trade. By
1730, Franklin had set up a printing house of his own and had
contrived to become the publisher of a newspaper called "The
Pennsylvania Gazette". The Gazette gave Franklin a forum for
agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives
through printed essays and observations. Over time, his
commentary, together with a great deal of savvy about
cultivating a positive image of an industrious and intellectual
young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. Even after
Franklin had achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he
would habitually sign his letters with the unpretentious 'B.
Franklin, Printer'.
Franklin was initiated into the local Freemason lodge in 1731
(new style), and became grand master in 1734, indicating his
rapid rise to prominence in Philadelphia.[2] He edited and
published the first Masonic book in America, a reprint of James
Anderson's The Constitutions of the Free-Masons that same year.
He remained a Freemason for the rest of his life.
Deborah Read
In
1724, while a boarder in the Read home, Franklin had courted
Deborah Read before going to London at Governor Keith's request.
At that time, Miss Read's mother was wary of allowing her
daughter to wed a seventeen-year old who was on his way to
London. Her own husband having recently died, Mrs. Read declined
Franklin's offer of marriage.
While Franklin was finding himself in London, Deborah married a
man named John Rodgers. This proved to be a regrettable
decision. Rodgers shortly avoided his debts and prosecution by
fleeing to Barbados, leaving Deborah behind. With Rodgers' fate
unknown, and bigamy an offense punishable by public whipping and
imprisonment, Deborah was not free to remarry.
Franklin himself had his own actions to ponder. In 1730,
Franklin acknowledged an illegitimate son named William, who
eventually became the last Loyalist governor of New Jersey.
While the identity of William's mother remains unknown, perhaps
the responsibility of an infant child gave Franklin a reason to
take up residence with Deborah Read. William was raised in the
Franklin household but eventually broke with his father over the
treatment of the colonies at the hands of the crown. However, he
was not above using his father's notoriety to enhance his own
standing.
Franklin established a common law marriage with Deborah Read on
September 1, 1730. At a time when many colonial families
consisted of six or more children, Benjamin and Deborah Franklin
eventually had two (in addition to raising William). The first
was Francis Folger Franklin, born October 1732. In one of the
most painful moments of Franklin's life, the boy died of
smallpox in the fall of 1736. A daughter, Sarah Franklin, was
born in 1743. She eventually married a man named Richard Bache,
had seven children, and cared for her father in his old age.
Deborah's fear of the sea meant that she never accompanied
Franklin on any of his extended trips to Europe, despite his
repeated requests.
Success as author
In
1733, Franklin began to issue the famous Poor Richard's Almanac
(with content both original and borrowed) on which much of his
popular reputation is based. Adages from this almanac such as "A
penny saved is twopence clear" (often misquoted as "A penny
saved is a penny earned") and "Fish and visitors stink in three
days" remain common quotations in the modern world. He sold
about ten thousand copies a year.
In
1758, the year in which he ceased writing for the Almanac, he
printed "Father Abraham's Sermon," one of the most famous pieces
of literature produced in Colonial America.
Franklin was well-known as a humorist and a collection of his
humorous writings can be found in the book: "Fart Proudly:
Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School."
Franklin's Autobiography, published after his death, has become
one of the classics of the genre.
Inventions and
scientific inquiries
Franklin was a prodigious inventor. Among his many creations
were the lightning rod, the glass armonica, the Franklin stove,
bifocal glasses, and the flexible urinary catheter. Although
Franklin never patented any of his own inventions, he was a
supporter of the rights of inventors and authors and was
responsible for inserting into the United States Constitution
the provision for limited-term patents and copyrights.
In
1743, Franklin founded the American Philosophical Society to
help scientific men discuss their discoveries. He began the
electrical research that, along with other scientific inquiries,
would occupy him for the rest of his life (in between bouts of
politics and moneymaking).
In
1748, he retired from printing and went into other businesses.
He created a partnership with his foreman, David Hill, which
provided Franklin with half of the shop's profits for 18 years.
This lucrative business arrangement provided leisure time for
study, and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him
a reputation with the educated throughout Europe and especially
in France.
These include his investigations of electricity. Franklin
proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not
different types of "electrical fluid" (as electricity was called
then), but the same electrical fluid under different pressures
(See electrical charge). He was the first to label them as
positive and negative respectively,[3] and the first to discover
the principle of conservation of charge.[4] In 1750, he
published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning
is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable
of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-François
Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment (using a
40-foot-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted
electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, Franklin conducted
his famous kite experiment and also successfully extracted
sparks from a cloud (unaware that Dalibard had already done so,
36 days earlier). Franklin's experiment was not written up until
Joseph Priestley's 1767 History and Present Status of
Electricity; the evidence shows that Franklin was insulated (not
in a conducting path, as he would have been in danger of
electrocution in the event of a lightning strike). (Others, such
as Prof. Georg Wilhelm Richmann of St. Petersburg, Russia, were
spectacularly electrocuted during the months following
Franklin's experiment.) In his writings, Franklin indicates that
he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to
demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use
of the concept of electrical ground. If Franklin did perform
this experiment, he did not do it in the way that is often
described, flying the kite and waiting to be struck by
lightning, (as it would have been dramatic but fatal). Instead
he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm
cloud, which implied that lightning was electrical. See, for
example, the 1805 painting by Benjamin West of Benjamin Franklin
drawing electricity from the sky.
Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the
lightning rod. He noted that conductors with a sharp rather than
a smooth point were capable of discharging silently, and at a
far greater distance. He surmised that this knowledge could be
of use in protecting buildings from lightning, by attaching
"upright Rods of Iron, made sharp as a Needle and gilt to
prevent Rusting, and from the Foot of those Rods a Wire down the
outside of the Building into the Ground;...Would not these
pointed Rods probably draw the Electrical Fire silently out of a
Cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure
us from that most sudden and terrible Mischief!" Following a
series of experiments on Franklin's own house, lightning rods
were installed on the Academy of Philadelphia (later the
University of Pennsylvania) and the Pennsylvania State House
(later Independence Hall) in 1752.[5]
In
recognition of his work with electricity, Franklin received the
Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1753, and in 1756 he became one
of the few eighteenth century Americans to be elected as a
Fellow of the Society. The cgs unit of electric charge has been
named after him: one franklin (Fr) is equal to one statcoulomb.
On
October 21, 1743, a storm blowing from the north-east denied
Franklin the opportunity of a witnessing a lunar eclipse. In
correspondence with his brother, Franklin learned that the same
storm had not reached Boston until after the eclipse, despite
the fact that Boston is to the north-east of Philadelphia. He
deduced that storms do not always travel in the direction of the
prevailing wind, a concept which would have great influence in
meteorology.[6]
Franklin noted a principle of refrigeration by observing that on
a very hot day, he stayed cooler in a wet shirt in a breeze than
he did in a dry one. To understand this phenomenon more clearly
Franklin conducted experiments. On one warm day in Cambridge,
England in 1758, Franklin and fellow scientist John Hadley
experimented by continually wetting the ball of a mercury
thermometer with ether and using bellows to evaporate the ether.
With each subsequent evaporation, the thermometer read a lower
temperature, eventually reaching 7 °F (-14 °C). Another
thermometer showed the room temperature to be constant at 65 °F
(18 °C). In his letter “Cooling by Evaporation,” Franklin noted
that “one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on
a warm summer’s day." Each year the frozen food industry gives a
Franklin Award in honor of his observing this phenomenon.
Musical endeavors
Franklin is known to have played the violin, the harp, and the
guitar. He also composed music, notably a string quartet in
early classical style, and invented (a much improved version of)
the glass armonica (not to be confused with the harmonica which
wasn't invented until long after Franklin) which soon found its
way to Europe.
Public life
Franklin and several other members of a philosophical
association joined their resources in 1731 and began the first
public library in Philadelphia. The newly founded Library
Company ordered its first books in 1732, mostly theological and
educational titles, but by 1741 the library also included works
on history, geography, poetry, exploration, and science. The
success of this library encouraged the opening of libraries in
other American cities, and Franklin felt that this enlightenment
partly contributed to the American colonies' struggle to
maintain their privileges.
In
1736 Franklin created the Union Fire Company, the first
volunteer firefighting company in America. In the same year he
printed a new currency for New Jersey based on innovative
anti-counterfeiting techniques which he had devised.
As
he matured, Franklin began to concern himself more with public
affairs. In 1743, he set forth a scheme for The Academy and
College of Philadelphia. He was appointed President of the
Academy in November 13, 1749, and it opened on August 13, 1751.
At its first commencement, on May 17, 1757, seven men graduated;
six with a Bachelor of Arts and one as Master of Arts. It was
later merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania,
to become the University of Pennsylvania, today a member of the
Ivy League.
In
1753, both Harvard and Yale awarded him honorary degrees [7].
In
1751, Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond obtained a charter from the
Pennsylvania legislature to establish a hospital. Pennsylvania
Hospital was the first hospital in what was to become the United
States of America.
Franklin became involved in Philadelphia politics, and
progressed rapidly. In October 1748 he was selected as a
councilman, in June 1749 he became a Justice of the Peace for
Philadelphia, and in 1751 he was elected to the Pennsylvania
Assembly. On August 10, 1753 Franklin was appointed joint deputy
postmaster-general of North America. His most notable service in
domestic politics was his reform of the postal system, but his
fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his subsequent diplomatic
services in connection with the relations of the colonies with
Great Britain, and later with France.
In
1754 he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany
Congress. This meeting of several colonies had been requested by
the Board of Trade in England to improve relations with the
Indians and defense against the French. Franklin proposed a
broad Plan of Union for the colonies. While the plan was not
adopted, elements of it found their way into the Articles of
Confederation and the Constitution.
In
1757, he was sent to England by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a
colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the
Penn family, the proprietors of the colony. For five years he
remained there, striving to end the proprietors' prerogative to
overturn legislation from the elected Assembly, and their
exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of
influential allies in Whitehall led to the failure of this
mission. In 1759, the University of St Andrews awarded him an
Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. In 1762, Oxford University
awarded Franklin an honorary doctorate for his scientific
accomplishments and from then on he went by "Doctor Franklin."
He also managed to secure a post for his illegitimate son,
William Franklin, as Colonial Governor of New Jersey.
During his stay in London, Franklin became involved in radical
politics. He was a member of the Club of Honest Whigs, alongside
thinkers such as Richard Price.
In
1756, Franklin became a member of the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (now Royal
Society of Arts or RSA, which had been founded in 1754), whose
early meetings took place in coffee shops in London's Covent
Garden district, close to Franklin's main residence in Craven
Street (the only one of his residences to survive and which
opened to the public as the Benjamin Franklin House museum on
17th January 2006). After his return to America, Franklin became
the Society's Corresponding Member and remained closely
connected with the Society. The RSA instituted a Benjamin
Franklin Medal in 1956 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of
Franklin's birth and the 200th anniversary of his membership of
the RSA.
During his stays at Craven Street in London between 1757 and
1775, Franklin developed a close friendship with his landlady
Margaret Stevenson and her circle of friends and relations, in
particular her daughter Mary, who was more often known as Polly.
Later years
On
his return to America (1762), Franklin became involved in the
Paxton Boys' affair, writing a scathing attack on their massacre
of Christian American Indians, and eventually persuading them to
disperse.[8]. Many of the Paxton Boys' supporters were
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and German Reformed or Lutherans from
the rural west of Pennsylvania, leading to claims that Franklin
was biased in favour of the urban Quaker elite of the East.
Because of these accusations, and other attacks on his
character, Franklin lost his seat in the 1764 Assembly
elections. This defeat, however, allowed him the opportunity to
return to London, where he would seal his reputation as a
pro-American radical.
In
1764, Franklin was dispatched to England as an agent for the
colony, this time to petition the King to resume the government
from the hands of the proprietors. During this visit he would
also become colonial agent for Georgia, New Jersey and
Massachusetts. In London, he actively opposed the proposed Stamp
Act, despite accusations by opponents in America that he had
been complicit in its creation. His principled opposition to the
Stamp Act, and later to the Townshend Acts of 1767, would lead
to the end of his dream of a career in the British Government,
and his alliance with proponents of colonial independence. It
also led to an irreconciliable break with his son William, who
remained loyal to the British.
In
September 1767, Franklin visited Paris with his usual traveling
partner, Sir John Pringle. News of his electrical discoveries
was widespread in France. His reputation meant that he was
introduced to many influential scientists and politicians, and
also to King Louis XV. The goodwill that was built up between
Franklin and the French would later prove useful in the American
War of Independence, during which he was a United States
commissioner there.
While living in London in 1768, he developed a phonetic alphabet
in A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling.
This reformed alphabet discarded six letters Franklin regarded
as redundant, and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt
lacked letters of their own; however, his new alphabet never
caught on and he eventually lost interest. [9]
In
1771 Franklin traveled extensively around the British Isles
staying with, among others, Joseph Priestley in Leeds and David
Hume in Edinburgh. In Dublin, Franklin was invited to sit with
the members of the Irish Parliament rather than in the gallery.
He was the first American to be given this honor.[10]
1773 saw the publication of two of Franklin's most celebrated
pro-American satirical essays: Rules by Which a Great Empire May
Be Reduced to a Small One, and An Edict by the King of
Prussia.[11] He also published an Abridgement of the Book of
Common Prayer, anonymously with Francis Dashwood. Among the
unusual features of this work is a funeral service reduced to
six minutes in length, "to preserve the health and lives of the
living".
Franklin obtained some private letters from Massachusetts
governor Thomas Hutchinson and lieutenant governor Andrew Oliver
which proposed restrictions on colonists' freedoms, and sent
them to America. The discovery that it was he who had illegally
distributed the letters meant the end of his political career in
London, and the end of hopes for a peaceful solution to the
escalating trans-Atlantic dispute. He was dismissed as deputy
postmaster-general for North America, and left London in March
1775.
By
the time Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, the
Revolutionary War had begun. The Pennsylvania Assembly
unanimously chose him as their delegate to the Second
Continental Congress. In 1776 he was a member of the Committee
of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and made
several changes to Thomas Jefferson's draft.
In
December of 1776, he was dispatched to France as commissioner
for the United States. He lived in a home in the Parisian suburb
of Passy, donated by Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont who
would become a friend and the most important foreigner to help
the United States win the War of Independence. Franklin remained
in France until 1785, and was such a favorite of French society
that it became fashionable for wealthy French families to
decorate their parlors with a painting of him. He conducted the
affairs of his country towards the French nation with great
success, which included securing a critical military alliance
and negotiating the Treaty of Paris (1783) with his British
friend and correspondent David Hartley. When he finally returned
home in 1785, he received a place only second to that of George
Washington as the champion of American independence. Le Ray
honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by Joseph
Siffred Duplessis that now hangs in the National Portrait
Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
After his return from France, Franklin became an abolitionist,
freeing both of his slaves. He eventually became president of
The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in
Bondage. [12]
Between his return to America in 1775 and 1786, Franklin
maintained a series of correspondence with Polly Stevenson
Hewson (Polly Stevenson had married surgeon and anatomist
William Hewson in 1770, but was widowed in 1774). The letters
form a core part of the James S. and Frances M. Bradford
Collection at the American Philosophical Society. Polly
Stevenson Hewson moved to Philadelphia to be closer to Franklin
in 1786 and was at his bedside when he died in 1790.
In
1787, while in retirement, he agreed to attend as a delegate the
meetings that would produce the United States Constitution to
replace the Articles of Confederation. He is the only Founding
Father who is a signatory of all three of the major documents of
the founding of the United States: The Declaration of
Independence, The Treaty of Paris and the United States
Constitution. Franklin also has the distinction of being the
oldest signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the
United States Constitution. He was 70 years old when he signed
the Declaration and 81 when he signed the Constitution.
Also in 1787, a group of prominent ministers in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania proposed the foundation of a new college to be
named in Franklin's honor. Franklin donated £200 towards the
development of Franklin College, which would later merge with
Marshall College in 1853. It is now called Franklin and Marshall
College.
Between 1771 and 1788, he finished his autobiography. While it
was at first addressed to his son, it was later completed for
the benefit of mankind at the request of a friend.
In
his later years, as Congress was forced to deal with the issue
of slavery, Franklin wrote several essays that attempted to
convince his readers of the importance of the abolition of
slavery and of the integration of Africans into American
society. These writings included:
An
Address to the Public from the Pennsylvania Society for
Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, (1789)
Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks (1789), and
Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade [13](1790).
On
February 11, 1790, Quakers from New York and Pennsylvania
presented their petition for abolition. Their argument against
slavery was backed by the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society and
its president, Benjamin Franklin. Because of his involvement in
abolition, its cause was greatly debated around the states,
especially in the House of Representatives.
Religious and
personal beliefs
Franklin's parents had intended for him to have a career in the
church. As a teenager, however, he became disillusioned with
organized religion, after ". . . Some books against Deism fell
into my hands. . . It happened that they wrought an effect on me
quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments
of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me
much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a
thorough Deist."[14] He attacked Christian principles of free
will and morality in a 1725 pamphlet, A Dissertation on Liberty
and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain.
Later in life, Franklin became more accommodating of the
utilitarian function of Christianity. He paid his annual
subscription to Philadelphia's Presbyterian minister in
recognition of the church's service to the community. In a
letter to Thomas Paine, he wrote of his belief in the moral
utility of faith: "If men are so wicked with religion, what
would they be if without it."[15]
However, like most deists, Franklin did not believe in an
interventionist God, thinking it "great vanity in me to suppose
that the Supremely Perfect does in the least regard such an
inconsiderable nothing as man".[16] He consistently attacked
religious dogma and promoted tolerance, arguing that morality
was dependent upon a person's actions rather than their
religious beliefs: "I think opinions should be judged by their
influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to
make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that
he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with
me." He also thought that the newly founded republic would only
last as long as it remained a republic. [17]
Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of thirteen
virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to
practice in some form for the rest of his life. His
autobiography (see references below) lists his thirteen virtues
as:
"TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
"SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself;
avoid trifling conversation."
"ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of
your business have its time."
"RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without
fail what you resolve."
"FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or
yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
"INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful;
cut off all unnecessary actions."
"SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly,
and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
"JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits
that are your duty."
"MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much
as you think they deserve."
"CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or
habitation."
"TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents
common or unavoidable."
"CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never
to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's
peace or reputation."
"HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."
Death and afterwards
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the extremely
advanced age (for that time) of 84 (while weighing over 300
pounds), and was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Christ Church Burial Ground is also
the home of Benjamin Rush. One of the houses he lived in Craven
Street is marked by a blue plaque. There are some plans to open
it as a Franklin Museum in the future. In 1728, as a young man,
Franklin wrote what he hoped would be his own epitaph: "The Body
of B. 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. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For
it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more
perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author. He was
born on January 17, 1706. Died 17."[18] Franklin's actual grave,
however, simply reads "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin."
In
the book The Life of Benjamin Franklin as written by himself, a
passage (obviously not written by himself) reads thus about
Franklin's death: "...when his pain and difficulty of breathing
entirely left him, and his family were flattering themselves wit
the hopes of his recovery, when an imposthumations, which had
formed itself in his lungs, suddenly burst, and discharged a
great quantity of matter, which he continued to throw up while
he had strength to do it; but, as that failed, the organ of
inspiration became gradually oppressed; a calm lethargic state
succeeded, and on the 17t of April, 1790, abd eleven o'clock at
night, he quietly expired, closing a long and useful life of
eighty-four years and three months"
At
his death, Franklin bequeathed £1000 (about $4400 at the time)
each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust for 200
years. The origin of the trust began in 1785 when a French
mathematician named Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour wrote a
parody of Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack called Fortunate
Richard. In it he mocked the unbearable spirit of American
optimism represented by Franklin. The Frenchman wrote a piece
about Fortunate Richard leaving a small sum of money in his will
to be used only after it had collected interest for 500 years.
Franklin, who was 79 years old at the time, wrote back to the
Frenchman, thanking him for a great idea and telling him that he
had decided to leave a bequest of 1,000 pounds each to his
native Boston and his adopted Philadelphia, on the condition
that it be placed in a fund that would gather interest over a
period of 200 years. As of 1990, over $2,000,000 had accumulated
in Franklin's Philadelphia trust since his death. During the
lifetime of the trust, Philadelphia used it for a variety of
loan programs to local residents. From 1940 to 1990, the money
was used mostly for mortgage loans. When the trust came due,
Philadelphia decided to spend it on scholarships for local high
school students. Franklin's Boston trust fund accumulated almost
$5,000,000 during that same time, and eventually was used to
establish a trade school that, over time, became the Franklin
Institute of Boston. (Excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer article
by Clark De Leon)
The
lasting legacy of Benjamin Franklin has resulted in the
appearance of his image in various places. Franklin's likeness
adorns the American $100 bill. As a result, $100 bills are
sometimes referred to in slang as "Benjamins" or "Franklins."
From 1948 to 1964, Franklin's portrait was also on the half
dollar. He has also appeared on a $50 bill in the past, as well
as several varieties of the $100 bill from 1914 and 1918, and
every $100 bill from 1928 to the present. Franklin also appears
on the $1,000 Series EE Savings bond. As a tribute to Franklin's
legacy, the city of Philadelphia contains around 5,000
likenesses of Benjamin Franklin, about half of which are located
on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Additionally,
Philadelphia's Ben Franklin Parkway (a major throughfare) and
Ben Franklin Bridge (the first major bridge to connect
Philadelphia with New Jersey) are named in his honor.
In
1976, as part of a bicentennial celebration, Congress dedicated
a 20-foot high marble statue in Philadelphia's Franklin
Institute as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. Many of
Franklin's personal possessions are also on display at the
Institute. It is one of the few National Memorials located on
private property.
In
1998, workmen restoring Franklin's London home (Benjamin
Franklin House) dug up the remains of six children and four
adults hidden below the home. The Times reported on February 11,
1998:
Initial estimates are that the bones are about 200 years old and
were buried at the time Franklin was living in the house, which
was his home from 1757 to 1762 and from 1764 to 1775. Most of
the bones show signs of having been dissected, sawn or cut. One
skull has been drilled with several holes. Paul Knapman, the
Westminster Coroner, said yesterday: "I cannot totally discount
the possibility of a crime. There is still a possibility that I
may have to hold an inquest."
The
Friends of Benjamin Franklin House (the organization responsible
for the restoration of Franklin's house at 36 Craven Street in
London) note that the bones were likely placed there by William
Hewson, who lived in the house for 2 years and who had built a
small anatomy school at the back of the house. They note that
while Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, he probably
did not participate in any dissections because he was much more
of a physicist than a medical man. Hewson ironically died of
septicemia on May 1, 1774 which he contracted from cutting
himself while dissecting a putrid corpse. [19]
Franklin in popular
culture
Franklin was placed on the first U.S. postage stamp which was
issued in 1847. He has been on numerous other stamps, as well as
the half dollar minted from 1948-63, and the commemorative
dollars (showing a young "scientist" and old "founding father")
minted on his tercentennial. The reverses of the latter pieces
are respectively based on the "Join or Die" cartoon he drew and
the continental dollar, which he supposedly designed. He also
appears on the $100 bill, which is popularly called a
"benjamin."
A
fictionalized but somewhat accurate version of Franklin appears
as a main character in the stage musical 1776. The film version
of 1776 features Howard da Silva, who originated the role of
Franklin on Broadway.
The
city of Philadelphia contains around 5,000 likenesses of
Benjamin Franklin—half of which are located on the University of
Pennsylvania campus. Additionally, a local actor portrays
Franklin in full costume, charging $1,776 for each appearance.
In
the novel Fahrenheit 451, the government claims that Benjamin
Franklin was the first fireman. In the novel, firemen do not put
out fires, but instead start them in order to burn books.
The
popular television show 'MythBusters' (Discovery channel) tested
Franklin's famous kite experiment with electricity. It turns out
that Franklin could not have done the kite flying experiment, as
the jolt would have been fatal, and Franklin was clearly alive
after the 'experiment'.
A
young Benjamin Franklin appears in Neal Stephenson's novel of
17th century science and alchemy, Quicksilver.
Walt Disney's cartoon Ben and Me (1953), based on the book by
Robert Lawson, counterfactually explains to children that Ben
Franklin's achievements were actually the ideas of a mouse named
Amos.
Franklin surprisingly appears as a character in Tony Hawk's
Underground 2, a skateboarding video game. Players encounter
Franklin in his hometown of Boston and are able to play as him
thereafter.
Proud Destiny by Lion Feuchtwanger, a novel mainly about Pierre
Beaumarchais and Benjamin Franklin beginning in 1776's Paris.
Ben
Franklin appears in the LucasArts Entertainment Company Game Day
of the Tentacle.
Benjamin Franklin is portrayed in a central role in the PBS
cartoon Liberty's Kids voiced by Walter Cronkite.
The
2004 movie, National Treasure, has the main characters trying to
collect clues left by Benjamin Franklin to discover a treasure
that he supposedly hid. The character played by Nicolas Cage was
named "Benjamin Franklin Gates", in following with the Gates
family tradition to name sons after Franklin and his
contemporaries.
The
Franklin Templeton Investments firm (originally Franklin
Distributors, Inc.) was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin and
uses his portrait in their logo.
Franklin was summoned via witchcraft into the twentieth century
for a 2-part episode on the TV show Bewitched.
The
children's novel, Qwerty Stevens: Stuck in Time with Benjamin
Franklin, has the main characters using their time machine to
bring Ben Franklin into modern times and then to travel back
with him to 1776.
Benjamin Franklin is one of the main inventors of Gregory Keyes'
The Age of Unreason tetralogy.
A
1992 Saturday Night Live spoof of Quantum Leap, "Founding
Fathers", had Ben Franklin traveling through time with George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson to help modern day Americans
with deficit reduction, only to find twentieth century reporters
are only interested in scandal and sensationalism.
The
science-fiction TV show Voyagers! had the main characters
helping Ben Franklin fly his kite in one episode and save his
mother from a fictionalized Salem Witch Trial in the next
episode.
Comedian Stephen Colbert interviewed Franklin on his March 1,
2006 show, questioning him about his national bird proposal, his
inventions, how he died, and whether he took money from Jack
Abramoff.
"Julian McGrath," played by Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse,
appears as Franklin in a school play in the Adam Sandler comedy
Big Daddy.
Benjamin Franklin has a small part in the movie Bill and Ted's
Bogus Journey.
In
an episode of the animated Dilbert series, Dilbert's garbageman
revives the corpse of Franklin when Dilbert is facing an ethical
dilemma regarding the voting process.
The
time-travel card game Early American Chrononauts includes a card
called Franklin's Kite which players can symbolically acquire
from the year 1752.
Stan Freberg's comedic audio recording, Stan Freberg Presents
the United States of America: The Early Years, depicts all of
Franklin's accomplishments as having been made by his young
apprentice, Myron.
Beavis and Butthead once got into trouble after attempting to
fly a kite in a thunderstorm, copying what they saw on an
educational show about Franklin. The joke of the show was that
the adults were blaming the evils of TV, not realizing the kids
were emulating Franklin.
In
the realm of Pirates of the Caribbean films "Benny" is taught
his famous "key and kite trick" by Jack Sparrow.
****
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin
Date Article Copied:
August 4, 2006
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