In England, to a working-class, protestant family who for generations were known for their intelligence, creativity, and independent thinking. Being a younger son, Josiah left Ecton in the 1670s to make his way in the world, moving to the Oxfordshire town of Banbury to work as a silk and cloth dyer.
After noticing that many protestants were sailing to Massachusetts, Josiah realized that the opportunities available in America were greater than anything he could ever have in England. So, in 1683, he and his wife, Anne Child, and their three children sailed to Boston.
Josiah became a tallow chandler, making candles and soap from animal fat, because there was little need for a dyer in the colony. Anne, his first wife, died after the birth of their seventh child in 1689. Josiah soon found a “virtuous woman” to be his second wife.
Abiah Folger, born in 1667, was the daughter of Peter and Mary Folger and the youngest of ten children. Her parents were Flemish Protestants whose families had fled to England in the sixteenth century. Because of their harsh treatment during the reign of Charles I they decided to emigrate to Boston in 1635.
Josiah and Abiah married in 1689. Abiah would bring Josiah another ten children, with Benjamin being the youngest boy. Benjamin proved to be a precocious child who many agreed was quote “generally the leader among the boys.” He loved to play along the banks of the Charles River and swim, sometimes experimenting with
Makeshift propellors so he could move faster through the water. He also loved to fly kites and once combined his love of swimming with his love of kites by setting a kite to fly on a windy day over a pond while floating on his back to let the wind pull him across the water.
His family believed in education, so they taught him to read at an early age. To help educate his children further, Josiah often had a “sensible friend or neighbor” over for dinner and conversations always included some “ingenious or useful topic for discourse… to improve the minds of his children.” Benjamin loved these dinner conversations.
To prepare him to possibly attend Harvard, Josiah sent Benjamin at age eight to the Boston Latin School. Benjamin made rapid progress, rising to the top of his class and quickly moving to the next grade level. However, he was taken out of school one year later when Josiah realized that Benjamin was
Not suited for the clergy because of his clever mind and rebellious nature. So, he sent Benjamin to study writing and arithmetic for a year at an academy run by George Brownell. Josiah took ten-year-old Benjamin out of school to work in the chandler’s shop to help support the family.
Benjamin hated working over the boiling cauldrons of smelly animal fat and resented the tedious task of cutting wicks. He once expressed his wish to go to sea which his father resoundingly refused him. Realizing he had to find a trade for his son, Josiah took him on a tour of the city’s craftsmen.
These tours instilled in Benjamin a life-long respect for tradesman and offered him insight into skills he would later use as a scientist. At age 12, after finding nothing to his liking, Benjamin began an apprenticeship with his brother James, age 21, who had recently returned from England after completing his apprenticeship as a printer.
Benjamin soon realized he had found his life’s calling. Few would dispute that Benjamin Franklin personifies the Age of Enlightenment, an era of intense societal and scientific change. After almost two centuries of religious wars because of the Protestant Reformation, starting
In 1517 when the Augustinian monk Martin Luther protested the corruption he saw within the Catholic Church, the people of Europe were tired of constant religious hatred and looked for answers outside of religion to explain how their world worked. The resulting Scientific Revolution was propelled forward by the invention of the printing press
By Johannes Gutenberg in 1440. This revolution of ideas laid the foundation for the Age of Enlightenment. During this time, great philosophers such as René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, and Voltaire actively questioned societal values and sought answers through human logic. Scientific exploration and discovery also excelled during this period.
Every day newspapers were filled with mentions of new scientific or technological innovations from the likes of Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, John Bartram, Gottfried Wilhelm and Leibniz. Benjamin Franklin was born into this world of free-flowing ideas and embraced it wholeheartedly.
While it may seem strange to us to say that Benjamin Franklin began his adult life at age twelve, it was common at this time for young people to begin training for a trade early. Benjamin initially resented the idea of being bound to his brother for nine years.
However, he soon realized that working in the printer’s shop meant he had access to not only newspapers, but also books, pamphlets, and other writings as well as the opportunity to interact with some of the most powerful people in their society through the printing of government documents, reports, legal forms, and legal tender.
Benjamin learned fast and soon became proficient at typesetting and other printing tasks. He also worked hard to improve himself by reading anything available to him. To refine his writing style, he practiced by copying essay samples such as those found in the British publication The Spectator. He also liked to debate.
He and a co-worker, John Collins, once argued the question of the benefits of educating women spurred on by Benjamin’s reading of Daniel Defoe’s An Essay upon Projects which discussed this issue. He learned that subtlety rather than direct attacks in debate, through tactics promoted by Socrates and others, worked best.
All of these experiences taught Benjamin skills that he would use later in life. Benjamin initially worked on The Boston Gazette, which was owned by William Brooker, but operated by James Franklin, Benjamin’s brother. After two years of working for Brooker, James launched his own paper, the weekly New England Courant, in 1721.
This tract not only reported the news, but also promoted literary writing and soon gained a reputation for being boldly independent. Since his brother always needed copy, Benjamin decided to take his writing practice and put it to good use. So he wrote an essay, disguising his handwriting and using the pseudonym, Silence Dogood, a
Widow. Once finished, he slid his essay under the printshop’s door. The staff were so excited by the essay that they published it in the Monday, 2nd of April 1722 edition of the Courant. This was Benjamin’s first published essay. Surprisingly, this sixteen-year-old boy managed to channel a woman’s view to perfection as
She talked about her mixed feelings regarding getting remarried, the need for alms for spinsters, and other political and societal issues. Benjamin wrote a total of fourteen Silence Dogood essays before he was caught in October. Her success helped fuel Benjamin’s pride. It also infuriated his brother.
That summer Benjamin had another opportunity to show his mettle when his brother James spent three weeks in jail without trial after publicly questioning the government’s efforts to control piracy. This left Benjamin in charge of the printshop. In spite of his tender age, he published three editions of the Courant.
James found himself in trouble again in early 1723 when he wrote an article on hypocrisy in religion. Although Silence Dogood managed to get away with writing on a similar topic with her prudish, almost naïve voice, James’ direct tone offended government and religious officials.
The General Court ordered James Franklin to cease publishing the Courant. To get around this little problem they removed James’ name on the masthead as the printer and put Benjamin’s in its place. If their relationship had been fraught before this, with James’ nasty temper and periodic
Beatings of Benjamin, it became even more so after Benjamin demonstrated just how talented he was. It did not help that to make this masthead change to their paper, they had to release Benjamin from his indenture agreement early, only to turn around later to create a new one. Benjamin chafed at this.
With only a few years left in his indenture, he decided to run away. He sold some of his personal books to raise money for travel fare and secretly booked passage on a ship to New York which sailed on the 25th of September 1723.
Once in New York, Benjamin met the sole printer in the city, William Bradford, who had written editorials that supported James Franklin’s efforts to address political and social problems in Boston. He had no job for Benjamin, but he suggested that he continue on to Philadelphia to inquire
Of his son, Andrew Bradford, also a printer. Benjamin quickly made his way to Philadelphia and met with the younger Bradford. Although Andrew also had no work for him, he suggested that he talk with the other printer in town, Samuel Keimer, who did have an opening.
Happy to have found work, Benjamin soon made friends with the other clerks in the shop. He also made a strong impression on important clients. One fateful meeting was with Sir William Keith, then governor of Pennsylvania. Governor Keith was impressed by the young man’s pluck and took an interest in his future.
During conversations over meals at local taverns and invitations to dinner at his home, he promised Benjamin help in reconciling him to his family and in setting up his own shop. In April 1724, Benjamin went home to Boston to visit his family with a letter from the
Governor in hand encouraging Josiah to finance his son’s new business venture. While proud of his son, Josiah chose not to provide financial support. During this visit, Benjamin met with Cotton Mather. The religious sage had learned of Benjamin’s recent success in Philadelphia and his bravado around Boston.
He decided to invite Benjamin over to review his large library. How could Benjamin refuse? During this visit, while they traveled through a narrow hall in the home, Mather suddenly shouted, “Stoop! Stoop!” Benjamin not understanding the warning wacked his head on a low beam.
While Benjamin rubbed his sore head, Mather said, “Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high. Stoop, young man, stoop—as you go through this world—and you’ll miss many hard lumps.” Benjamin soon learned what Mather had hoped to teach him.
When Benjamin returned to Philadelphia, he met with Governor Keith. Upon learning that Josiah refused to provide money for Benjamin to start a printing shop of his own, the governor declared that he would do it, but first Benjamin had to go to London to purchase supplies.
He promised to provide a list of required materials and a letter of credit. Benjamin assumed all would be well. Yet, in November 1724, he found himself sailing to England without these papers. All he had was a fellow printing clerk, James Ralph, for companionship. They arrived in London on Christmas Eve.
He now understood Mather’s warning. Luckily, a fellow passenger befriended Benjamin. His name was Thomas Denham, a Quaker merchant. It was from Denham that he learned about Governor Keith’s character. With advice from Denham, Benjamin resolved to make the best of a bad situation.
He found an inexpensive place to live and landed a printing job at the printing house of Samuel Palmer. Ralph on the other hand tried several professions, all a dismal failure, but they had fun on Benjamin’s income attending the theatre and other entertainments. They eventually had a falling out over a girl.
During his time in London, Benjamin’s ideas about life began to solidify. After reading William Wollaston’s The Religion of Nature Delineated, he had a revelation. Wollaston explained that the only way to understand God’s divine character was to study science and nature. Benjamin agreed.
He would eventually become a nominal Deist, where followers believed in a divine being who established the world and then saw fit to just let it manage itself afterwards. Yet, Benjamin stood apart from that belief because he realized that all organized religions
Served as a medium for encouraging people to do good works to help others. Benjamin moved to a better job with better pay at John Watt’s printing house and began to feel safe in his new life. Yet, when Denham told Benjamin he planned to return to Philadelphia and wanted to make
Him his clerk at his store there, Benjamin decided to take the offer. One reason was that Denham provided a good example of how to conduct oneself that Benjamin wanted to model. For example, before they left for America, Denham threw a lavish dinner for his creditors.
During the meal he thanked them profusely for their assistance and at the end of the meal asked them to look under their dinner plates. There they found their payments with interest. This impressed Benjamin. On the voyage back to America in July 1726, Benjamin resolved to live a more effective life through better behavior.
He had seen, through Ralph’s and other’s behaviors, how people can be led astray by not controlling their desires and emotions. Thus, he established four rules of conduct, summarized as: first, to live frugally and pay all debts; second, to only speak the truth; third, to work hard, as industry and patience
Were the only way to true prosperity; and fourth, to speak ill of no one. About ten years later he would more formally codify these ideas through what he called “The Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection.” The plan contained twelve virtues: “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 of 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, clothes, or habitation, TRANQUILITY: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable, CHASTITY: Rarely use Venery or sexual indulgence but for Health or Offspring, Never to Dullness,
Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation. He purchased a little book to track his daily progress. He dutifully reviewed his conduct each evening, marking those virtues where he slipped during the day and resolved to work on those faults the next day.
He would refer to his little book for the remainder of his life. He later admitted that ORDER gave him the most trouble. One time he showed the little book to a Quaker friend who remarked that Benjamin had forgotten to add an important virtue that he was often guilty of violating.
Benjamin quickly added a thirteenth virtue, HUMILITY, with the goal to “Imitate Jesus and Socrates.” Benjamin loved working as a merchant and was good at it. However, disaster struck when Denham died suddenly and did not leave Benjamin the shop in his will which meant he had to obtain work.
In 1727, he found himself back working for Keimer, but this time as a manager. Benjamin had numerous successes including creating the first foundry in American for casting printer type molds. When the New Jersey Assembly awarded Keimer the account to create new paper money, Keimer selected Benjamin to do the work.
A year later Benjamin joined a coworker, Hugh Meredith, in establishing his own printing house. At this time, Benjamin also began his life-long endeavor to be civically minded. His first effort was to create what he called the Leather Apron Club, but most called it the Junto.
This group consisted of fellow tradesmen who wanted to improve themselves through reading and intellectual conversation on matters of the day. Being fond of creating procedures, Benjamin wrote a list of twenty questions to serve as the foundation of their conversations such as “Have you lately observed any encroachments
On the just liberties of the people?” or “Have you lately heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what means?” These conversations became the inspiration for “public-service” ideas that led to the founding of the first subscription library in America, known as The Library Company of
Philadelphia, 1731 which still exists today, the development of a volunteer fire force, the Union Fire Company, 1736, and the creation of the Academy of Philadelphia 1751, renamed the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. These were only a handful of their many civic pursuits.
As one of three printers in town, Benjamin had to make his mark. He used his talents by writing under the pseudonyms Martha Careful and Celia Shortface and wrote his Busy-Body Essays. After a year of stiff competition, Keimer finally folded. Benjamin bought him out and became the owner and publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette
In October 1729. Benjamin continued to write essays. One of his most famous was the “Apology for Printers,” published in 1731, in which he expressed a clear defense of free speech in the press. It was obvious he had learned some important lessons from his brother James’ experiences.
To this day it is considered one of the most important arguments in support of freedom of the press. This essay got the attention of the Pennsylvania Assembly which brought more business his way. He was soon asked to join the Freemasons as well, which he did in 1731.
Officially successful, Benjamin renewed the friendship he had with Deborah Read before he had sailed for England. She had married in the interim to a rogue, John Rogers, who abandoned her leaving a trail of debt behind him. Because they did not know if Rogers was still alive, they resolved the situation by pursuing
A common law marriage which they consummated in September 1730. It proved to be a fruitful and positive marriage for both. Benjamin called her his “good and faithful helpmate.” Around this time a surprise appeared in the form of an illegitimate child fathered by
Benjamin, named William Franklin, born sometime between April 1730 and 1731, the date is uncertain. The mother of this child has never been disclosed. Benjamin took responsibility for the child and Deborah accepted serving as the baby’s surrogate mother. Although some think she may have been his mother, we will never know for sure.
Deborah did give Benjamin two children of their own. Only one grew to adulthood, Sarah, born in 1743. Their son Francis was born in 1732 but died four years later of smallpox. His death haunted Benjamin for the rest of his life because he had considered inoculating
His child but had not found the time to do it. Benjamin also continued to contemplate the meaning of life. Through Deism and his life experiences he concluded that there was a clear connection between serving his fellow man and honoring God.
He manifested this idea through actions that filled a community need, such as those mentioned earlier in the civic pursuits achieved by Benjamin and the Junto. He also saw no contradiction with this belief while building his media empire.
His first step in this effort was to publish an annual almanack, which was a popular way to provide information about seasonal weather predictions for the coming year and advice on topics ranging from marriage and wealth to friendship. If done right, it could serve the public good by providing useful advice that could make
Life more pleasant and productive for everyone. He wrote it under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders. The first edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack was published in 1732 and ran for another twenty-five years. Through this medium, he wrote some of his most famous maxims such as: “Early to bed,
Early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise;” “God helps them who help themselves;” and “He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.” It proved to be incredibly profitable. His increase in wealth and prominence helped him acquire two key government posts that pulled him even deeper into governmental affairs.
In 1736, the Pennsylvania Assembly chose Benjamin to serve as its clerk. It not only provided a healthy monetary income, but also put him in contact with the leaders of the day and provided him with a front row seat to the workings of government.
The next year, Benjamin was offered the commission to be Philadelphia’s postmaster. Again, a lucrative governmental position that served the public good. Always one to enjoy good conversation with an open flow of ideas, Benjamin made a proposal to create what could be considered “an intercolonial Junto”.
In May 1743, he published a circular entitled, “A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Among the British Plantations in America.” He explained the concept in detail emphasizing that because he served as both postmaster and printer, he could function as the collector of ideas.
Basically, scientists and intellectuals could send their reports to him through the post, and he could create a booklet of abstracts of these ideas that could be sent out regularly to all members. That way the great minds of America could share their ideas amongst one another.
He suggested a name for this new group: the American Philosophical Society. It began meeting in the spring of 1744 but was slow to start. However, eventually it became very active and continues publication to today. Ever since the British and French first settled the North American continent they had vied
For the support of Native Americans. This led to a series of four wars, King William’s War in 1688 to 1698, Queen Anne’s War in 1702 to 1713, King George’s War in1744 to1748, and the Seven Years’ War in 1754 to1763. Each had a European component to varying degrees.
Although there had been little action directly in Pennsylvania there was a growing concern for those settlers out on the far western portions of the colony. What made things worse were two main factors: Quakers who refused to bear arms due to their
Religious convictions and a proprietary governor who prevented the Assembly from taxing the governor’s lands in order to raise funds to equip the militia. During the King George’s War, in 1747, Benjamin stepped into the fray by making a radical suggestion. He proposed, through a pamphlet entitled, “Plain Truth,” to create a military force
That would be independent of the Pennsylvania colonial government. He stated also that this new militia would run democratically with no class distinctions. Officers would be elected by the men, not appointed based upon wealth and status or by a government official. He received a positive response.
To furnish this new “Military Association” with cannons and related equipment, he organized a lottery that raised £3,000. Although this “association” never saw action, the incident had a profound effect in America by teaching Americans that they should look to themselves rather than the British government in times of need.
Benjamin also made a lasting enemy in the colony’s proprietor, Thomas Penn. In 1748, Benjamin had become financially secure enough that he could launch into a new phase of his life as a retired tradesman with time now to explore his other interests, what he called his “scientific amusements.”
He turned over the operation of his printing house to his foreman David Hall but continued to own it and many of his other business ventures. It was a smooth transition because he had already used his newspaper and almanack as platforms to discuss natural phenomenon for years.
He also always took the lessons in humility learned earlier in life and applied them to his scientific pursuits. His goal was to make any discoveries useful to someone and he rarely took credit or applied for a patent. He did his work for the common good. In 1743, Benjamin had an auspicious meeting.
Dr. Archibald Spencer from Scotland came to Boston to present his traveling scientific show when Benjamin happened to be visiting family. Benjamin attended. Although the whole show fascinated him, what caught his attention most was the rubbing of a glass tube leading to the creation of electrical sparks that the demonstrator could
Pull out for several feet. When Dr. Spencer came to Philadelphia in 1747, he inquired of the Doctor and asked how he could also acquire a similar glass tube. He soon ordered the equipment through his contact in London, Peter Collinson, as well as contracting Philadelphia craftsmen to make particular pieces of equipment.
With the key equipment in hand, Benjamin began experiments with electricity in earnest. He soon learned that the glass jars did not create the spark, but only collected it. He theorized that there must be negative and positive charges that either pulled things together or repelled them based upon the charge.
He then experimented with materials and their level of conductivity. He found that a sharp pointed piece of metal drew the spark, but a blunt one did not draw a charge as effectively and, if grounded, it did not charge at all.
He then began experiments to capture and store electricity using glass jars, called Leyden jars after the Dutch town where they were first created. He covered the outside of the jars with metal foil, but inside there was lead, water, or metal with the glass serving as insulation.
He used wire to charge the interior contents. What he learned was that if the interior content was charged then the outside foil had an equal and opposite charge. He discovered that it was the glass that stored the electricity, not the contents or the metal foil.
So, he took this a step further and stacked small pieces of glass, edged them with metal, and wired them together creating what today we call the electric battery. In 1749, he noticed that these electrical sparks and lightening had at least twelve similar attributes. He wondered if lightening was really a form of electricity.
Up to this point no one had proven it. He thought of a way one might prove it and wrote his thoughts down in two letters he sent to Collinson who then forwarded these to the Royal Society in London. The Society published his letters in The Gentleman’s Magazine in 1750.
These letters were translated into French two years later. Benjamin became an international sensation when in 1752 Comte de Buffon and Thomas-Francois D’Alibard led a group of scientists in a demonstration of this experiment in front of the French King Louis XV. It worked!
Benjamin later tried this experiment himself with his famous kite and key experiment. This discovery led to the creation of the lightening rod which protects tall buildings from damage caused by lightning strikes and is still used today. Benjamin would be the first person living outside of Britain to be awarded the gold
Copley Medal for this achievement in 1753. Harvard and Yale Universities also awarded him honorary degrees. Benjamin continued to impact science and technological developments in numerous ways including experiments in heat conduction and smoke control through the invention of the Franklin Stove in 1741,
A flexible medical catheter in 1752, a musical instrument called the Armonica in 1762, and bifocal eyeglasses in 1785. He also discovered what today we call the Gulf Stream during his many voyages to and from Europe. Benjamin also achieved on the political front as well. In 1751, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly.
His son William replaced him as clerk. As part of the assembly, he was able to get bills passed not only to pave the streets of Philadelphia, but to also install streetlamps as well. His inventiveness helped to solve a tricky problem by creating streetlamp covers that
Helped to vent the smoke from the lamp so the smoke would not cloud the glass. He also modified the traditional design into a system of four panes of glass that permitted easy replacement of broken sections. In addition, in 1753, he became joint postmaster, with William Hunter, for all of the American colonies.
Tensions continued to escalate on the frontier between the Native Americans and the western settlers. Hoping to deflate tensions, the Assembly sent a delegation to talk with tribal leaders near the village of Carlisle in 1753. Benjamin was appointed to serve as one of three commissioners to attend this meeting.
Although they heard the Native American leaders’ complaints, nothing really came of this except the realization that something had to change. They knew war was coming. Also anticipating trouble, London asked the colonies to send representatives to a conference
In Albany, New York in June 1754 not only to negotiate terms for an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy, but to also determine ways to provide a unified colonial defense. Benjamin was selected as one of four Pennsylvania commissioners to this meeting.
Benjamin had already come to a similar conclusion because of his experience in the last war. During his travels north, he created what became known as the Albany Plan of Union. In it he encouraged the creation of a colonial congress consisting of representatives from
Each of the colonies with representation proportioned upon population size and prosperity of the colony. To run this congress would be a leader called the President General who would be appointed by the King of England. Benjamin even drew up an emblem for this idea.
It was a snake cut into eight pieces representing the colonies with a caption that read “Join or Die.” He published this in his newspaper on the 9th of May 1754, the same month the Seven Years’ War began. It was one of the first political cartoons ever created.
In a vote during the Albany Conference his idea was voted down because many colonial governments did not want to relinquish their independent power. Yet, the idea did not disappear. The relationships between the Quakers, the Proprietors or owners of the colonies, and
The Pennsylvania Assembly had not changed much since the last war, with fundraising through taxation going nowhere. When General Edward Braddock arrived in the colonies to head up the British campaign, he demanded supplies. Benjamin, eager to help, declared that Pennsylvania would rise to the occasion, only to find himself
Soon responsible for acquiring the much-needed supplies. Although he had to practically beg and barter, even offering his own personal bond, to procure the supplies, he managed to pull it off. He received a commendation for his efforts, but at a tremendous cost.
After Braddock was ambushed and killed the following year, Benjamin was almost ruined by the amount of loans he had incurred. If the new British General in charge, William Shirley, had not bailed him out, Benjamin would have lost everything. Desperate for money, the Assembly begged the Pennsylvania proprietor to permit the taxation
Of his properties to raise funds for the war effort, only to be haughtily refused. Eventually, a deal was worked out with Thomas Penn, the proprietor, that he would supplement £5,000 to whatever the Assembly raised. Benjamin’s response to this token effort was to say, “Those who would give up essential
Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin never forgave the proprietor’s act of selfishness and became an ardent opponent of the Penn family. Now with funding in hand, the Pennsylvania Assembly had to raise troops, so they resurrected Benjamin’s Militia Plan.
Benjamin donned a military uniform and spent his fiftieth birthday in a military camp with his son William. He soon found himself elected colonel of the regiment. Since he felt uncomfortable in that role and because politically it made him a threat to the proprietors, he chose to resign his commission.
In response, the Pennsylvania Assembly had another role for Benjamin to play. They chose to send him to London to serve as their agent. His mission was to convince the proprietors to permit taxation of their colonial properties. If that failed, he was ordered to request assistance from the British government.
He set sail with his son to England in June 1757. Once he had arrived in London, Benjamin took time to visit important contacts like Collinson and William Strahan, Through these visits he would make the acquaintance of people who would become life-long friends such as Dr. John Fothergill, a prominent physician, Sir
John Pringle, a moral philosopher and physician, Joseph Priestley, a fellow scientist who wrote a history of electricity and who would isolate oxygen, and Jonathan Shipley, the Bishop of St. Asaph. He also mixed and mingled with the elite through various social and scholarly clubs such as
The Fellows of the Royal Society and The Club of the Honest Whigs. Since he was there on urgent Assembly business, he met with key officials such as Lord Grenville, the president of the Privy Council, and the Pennsylvania proprietors.
He soon discovered that the British saw the colonies not as partners in a greater British empire, which was how Benjamin saw them, but more as vassals there to do the government’s bidding. His meeting with Lord Grenville, for example, was an exposé of condescension making it
Clear to Benjamin that the role of the colonial assemblies was to follow dictates from England. His meeting with the Penns was initially cordial as each party used the opportunity to feel each other out. However, when they met in January 1758 the conversation was explosive.
Any influence Benjamin had before this evaporated after this meeting. As a result, Benjamin used his time in England to provide inside information to his colleagues in the colonies so they would know what to expect. In November 1758, Benjamin received notice of a final response from the Penns.
In it they stated that the assembly had no power beyond advice and consent. They also said they did not want to work with Benjamin anymore. His response, however, was to suggest to the Assembly that he use his time in London to
Attempt to pull Pennsylvania away from the Penn family, transferring control to the Crown as other colonies had done. He said he would use the proprietor’s lax actions regarding Native American affairs and their insistence of having their way over the needs of the Empire as leverage.
His allies in the Assembly told him to stay and fight. During his time in England, Benjamin took the opportunity to travel during the summers as much as he could. One of his first trips was to visit Ecton and its environs with his son William to do some genealogical exploration.
He then travelled through northern England into Scotland. There, he received an honorary degree from the University of St. Andrews in 1759. From this point forward, he was known as Doctor Franklin. Three years later he received an honorary doctorate from Oxford and in 1761, he visited
France and Holland and was treated like a celebrity everywhere he went because of his scientific exploits. During all of these travels, he met numerous intellectuals of the day including the economist Adam Smith and the philosopher David Hume. Before Benjamin left England in 1762, he wrote an important pamphlet “The Interest of Great
Britain Considered with Regard to Her Colonies,” which outlined why Britain must keep Canada within the British empire rather than return it to France when the current war ended. He also managed to get a royal appointment for his son William, serving as the new Royal Governor of New Jersey.
What he had not anticipated was, like father like son, William had sired an illegitimate child named William Temple Franklin, known to family as Temple. Benjamin would take on the responsibility of rearing this child. Benjamin was not home in Philadelphia long before controversy over proprietary rights broke out again.
Infuriated by the poor defense their region had received during the war, several western settlers attacked groups of Christianized Native Americans. The “Paxton Boys,” as they came to be known, moved towards Philadelphia with the intent of killing more Native Americans and any whites protecting them. The government panicked.
Eventually, the government sent a delegation to meet with the “Boys.” The delegation managed to get them to see reason and pull back from their attack. Afterwards Benjamin wanted the government to hold the members of this mob accountable, but they refused.
In fact, they encouraged the mob to take Native American scalps and receive a bounty. Benjamin was horrified. Benjamin again attacked proprietary rights and their refusal to contribute to expenses for defense. In March 1764, he wrote a series of resolutions calling for the end of the ineffectual proprietary
Government and even started a petition drive to do so. The Assembly voted to return Benjamin to England to work towards ending the proprietorship and creating a more equitable relationship with England, possibly getting a representative for all of the colonies in Parliament. He left for England in November 1764.
Benjamin arrived in London unaware that a new storm was brewing. The British government had determined that if the colonials could not pay for their own protection against the Native Americans and the French, then they would have to be taxed in order to pay for the expense.
In March 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act to raise funds for this military protection. Benjamin, hoping to keep on good terms with the government, calculated badly by suggesting his good friend John Hughes be appointed the tax collector in Pennsylvania.
What he did not know was that mob violence had already broken out all over the colonies and some began to see Benjamin as the agent of their troubles and not only attacked Hughes, but also threatened to attack Benjamin’s home, but were beaten back by friends.
These events led some Americans to begin to question their place within the British empire, galvanizing their thinking as Americans, not Britains. In England, Benjamin was slow to pick up on the growing tensions back home. He desperately wanted his precious Pennsylvania to remain within the greater British Empire, but the question was how?
With careful prodding by friends back in America, he refocused his efforts to try to get an American representative in Parliament. On the 13th of February 1766, he got the chance to present his case. His moderate presentation convinced many in Parliament that they should revoke the Stamp Act.
In the colonies he was seen as the most effective spokesperson they had so he became not only the agent for Pennsylvania, but also Georgia, New Jersey, and eventually Massachusetts. Yet, he did not have long to celebrate because the British then imposed the Townshend Act,
In June 1767, which taxed imports into the American colonies. Benjamin tried to take the middle ground, but his actions led some people back home to believe he was a loyalist, doing the government’s bidding. Yet, the British saw him as “too American.”
Things came to a head when he finally received word that Parliament rejected his petition to end proprietary rule of Pennsylvania. As he floundered, he also feared things were about to explode back home. It did on the 5th of March 1770, when a little skirmish in Boston changed everything.
Today, we call it the Boston Massacre. Although this led to the repeal of the Townshend duties on everything but tea, tensions remained high. In 1773, Benjamin wrote several satirical pieces in an attempt to defuse tensions. The essay “Rules by Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One” tried to explain
The American perspective to the British people. “Whenever the injured come to the capital with complaints,” he wrote, “they punish such suitors with long delay, enormous expense, and a final judgement in favor of the oppressor.” In another more famous piece, “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” he took on the voice
Of the King of Prussia who argued that since Germans previously settled England, he felt justified in stating quote “that a revenue should be raised from said colonies in Britain” by levying duties of 4.5 percent on all English imports and exports. As it turned out the British were in no laughing mood.
It did not help that on the16th of December 1773, some fifty Americans dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped £10,000 worth of tea into the Boston harbor. On the 29th of January 1774, Benjamin found himself in a room called the Cockpit at the
Palace of Whitehall in Westminster, where King Henry VIII had once watched cockfights. Benjamin was asked there by Parliament to defend his actions regarding six letters written by Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson that were secretly published in American newspapers. These letters exposed the systematic efforts by the British government to oppress the colonists.
Of course, the British government was furious and gave Benjamin little quarter during their verbal thrashing. The next day, they stripped Benjamin of his role as postmaster. The only ray of hope were secret talks between him, former Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder who was Lord Chatham, and Richard and William Howe.
While they sympathized with the plight of the Americans, politically they could not change British policy. In the midst of all of this, Benjamin’s wife Deborah died. On the 18th of April 1775, a little battle occurred in the village of Lexington that would become known as “The Shot Heard Around the World.”
The Revolutionary War had started. Benjamin was already under sail to return home when it occurred. He landed in a country that had already held its First Continental Congress. Benjamin literally stepped off the ship as delegates gathered for the Second Continental Congress. He joined the next day as a delegate and ardent patriot.
He had finally decided which side he would take. But first, he had to talk with his son William, in an attempt to pull him to his side. During a meeting at Trevose, owned by Joseph Galloway and located north of Philadelphia, the two Franklins talked.
William insisted that they all remain neutral in the American conflict, only to hear his father say that the only recourse for the terrible treatment the Americans had experienced was complete independence. William responded that his beloved country would soon be in flames if the Americans continued their violent course.
Both left this meeting bitter and sad, knowing that they had chosen opposite sides. This was not the case for every delegate to the Second Continental Congress. Many still held out hope that the British would see reason. On the 5th of July 1775, John Dickinson pushed through what became known as the Olive Branch
Petition to be sent directly to the King, insisting that the troubles were started by meddlesome members of Parliament and requesting that the King come to their rescue. The delegates hoped that through this, along with the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity
For Taking Up Arms,” hostilities would end, even though the British had burned Charleston, South Carolina and won the bloody Battle of Bunker Hill a month before. After his mistreatment in England, Benjamin knew exactly what direction things had to go and began a draft for a declaration for independence.
That draft document used many of the same arguments found in his essays written in England. He also knew that the colonies had to become more dependent upon one another if they were to survive at all. So, he pulled out his old Albany Plan from 1754 and revised it to fit the new situation
Including a system of government with a division of powers between the central federal government and that of the states. It also spelled out how these powers would be divided. He presented it to Congress in late July. During much of 1775, Benjamin was busy with congressional activities ranging from establishing
The manufacture of gunpowder, negotiating alliances with Native Americans, promoting trade with other countries to addressing military discipline within the militia. He was so busy that John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that Benjamin quote “does not hesitate at our boldest measures, but rather seems to think us too irresolute.”
In March 1776, Benjamin was asked to head a committee to meet with officials in Canada, in the hope of pulling them to the colonial side. He never got a chance to ask because he soon realized that the colonies could barely stand on their own and lacked solid monetary and military support.
The Canadians for their part, fearful of incurring the wrath of Parliament, proved inhospitable. Upon his return from this mission, the attitudes of the congressional delegates had galvanized because there had been no response from the King; there were mounting threats from Britain
With more troops on their way; and increased public pressure to act due to the impact on public opinion of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, first published in January 1776. Congress determined it was time to declare independence, so it established a committee of five to write it.
They met at Benjamin’s home just a few blocks away. Jefferson was given the honor of writing the initial draft and it would be Benjamin who offered minimal, but key edits. On the 2nd of July, the delegates voted for independence and signed the document a month
Later, in essence signing their death warrant if things went badly. Now they had to form a system of government. Although he presented his Albany Plan as an option, the resulting Articles of Confederation, completed in 1777 after much arguing, would look nothing like it.
But Benjamin would have other things to worry about because he was selected to sail to France to request financial and possibly military assistance. He would be saddled with two difficult characters as his co-commissioners: Silas Deane, who would later be sent home in disgrace for financial improprieties and other issues; and the mentally
Unstable Arthur Lee. Once in France, Benjamin set out to build upon the work of Deane, who had arrived earlier and managed to get a shipment of arms to the colonies. Working with the French Foreign Minister, the Comte de Vergennes, Benjamin determined
To use his scientific celebrity to build friendships and win the hearts of the French court and people. He would appear dressed as a colonial “rustic”, wearing simple clothes and a marten fur cap he purchased during his recent trip to Canada. The French loved it.
He settled in the Village of Passy just outside of Paris. To his American cohorts he seemed not to work at all, but only attended parties, salons, and discussions of scientific endeavors. In reality, he proved the bedrock of the delegation over the next five years.
By 1778, he had achieved treaties of alliance and commerce with France, helped by the dramatic American victory at Saratoga on the 19th of September 1777. He achieved much, in spite of having to address constant squabbles among the American delegation. Silas Deane was recalled soon after the signing of the alliance treaty with France.
Arthur Lee suffered from paranoia, seeing evil under every chair, including sending letters home about Benjamin’s seeming laziness and disloyalty. Yet, one of Lee’s accusations, that the delegation’s secretary Edward Bancroft was a British spy, proved to be true. Benjamin would soon have to deal with the fragile ego of John Adams as well.
In 1778, the tensions had got so bad with Adams, who arrived early that year, that he made a request to Congress to separate the delegation, which they did and made Benjamin the Minister Plenipotentiary in 1779. Through it all, Benjamin took the long view and endeavored to balance idealism with the
Reality on the ground. Although he worked well with the Comte de Vergennes, he was not above secretly meeting with the British against French wishes, in order to achieve a peace treaty. The stunning French and American victory at Yorktown, on the 19th of October 1781, eased the way for a peace treaty.
When it became clear that the war was at a stalemate the delegation decided to negotiate and the final peace treaty arrived. John Jay, who had arrived in June 1782, would play a leading role, but Benjamin, although ill, pulled the levers behind the scenes.
Now all they had to do was wait for a sympathetic British government, which arrived in July, when William Petty, the Earl of Shelburne was elected Prime Minister. The American delegation of Benjamin, John Jay, John Adams, and Henry Laurens, with Benjamin’s
Grandson Temple Franklin as secretary signed a provisional treaty to end the war in November 1782. After doing some damage control with the Comte de Vergennes since it was clear that the Americans had not followed the French requirement that they be involved in all negotiations, Benjamin was able to sooth ruffled feathers.
Although displeased, the Comte de Vergennes relented, but stated that the French had been sorely used by the Americans. The final peace treaty, The Treaty of Paris, was signed on the 3rd of September 1783. After a yearlong goodbye while he waited for his replacement, Thomas Jefferson, to arrive,
Benjamin made his way home, setting sail in December 1784. It soon became clear after his arrival home that the Articles of Confederation, finally approved by all thirteen colonies in 1781, could not provide the governmental stability or unity the newly freed states truly needed.
In fact, it was everything Benjamin had feared; thirteen independent states with an ineffectual congress. Things came to a head in August 1786, with a rebellion of farmers in western Massachusetts, unhappy about taxes and debt collection, led by Daniel Shays.
It demonstrated to the world just how weak the United States government was, even though George Washington was able to deflate the conflict by early 1787. It was during a border dispute meeting between Maryland and Virginia at Washington’s Mount
Vernon that it was decided that delegates should be sent from all the colonies to meet in Annapolis, Maryland in September to talk about the troubled confederation. Only five states sent delegates and so, a meeting date for a more intense discussion was set for May 1787 in Philadelphia.
Once the delegates arrived, it became clear that they had to do more than just revise the Articles of Confederation. They had to create a whole new system. While Benjamin had opinions about what should be done, he remained silent and instead used his diplomatic skills developed over years of difficult negotiations both in England
And in France to guide the delegates to sensible solutions, often using the Socratic method he had learned years before. His comments were few, but his words, carefully chosen, made the delegates think about what was truly at stake. It was in this role as the Enlightenment Sage that he helped this Constitutional Convention
Create one of the longest lasting Constitutions ever to exist in the history of humankind. Once this Congress approved of this Constitution, Benjamin stated, “Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best.”
As historian Walter Isaacson wrote, “For him, compromise was not only a practical approach, but a moral one. Tolerance, humility, and respect for others required it.” This attitude served his beloved country well when it needed it most. Although enfeebled with gout and kidney stones, Benjamin remained active in intellectual pursuits.
He continued writing to philosophical and scientific friends throughout Europe. He also took on a new pursuit, the abolition of slavery. While he had written on the matter numerous times during his life, he finally acted by accepting the Presidency of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in 1787.
One of the final political acts of his life was to send a slavery abolition petition to Congress in February 1790. On the 17th of April 1790, Benjamin Franklin died at the age of 84. Over 20,000 mourners lined the streets to watch the funeral procession, as it worked
Its way to the burial ground at Christ Church in Philadelphia. There, he was buried next to his beloved wife Deborah. If this outpouring of respect was not testament enough to his life’s achievements, in front of his casket walked clergy from every faith, representing the importance of service to
And tolerance of others, a fitting end to an impactful life. What do you think of Benjamin Franklin? Do you think he made an important mark on his society as well as achieving his goal of doing good by helping others?
Please let us know in the comment section and in the meantime, thank you very much for watching.
