Suppose I was to ask you who the quintessential Colonial American was. Or, which signer of the Declaration of Independence was also a printer, writer, editor, wit, punster, scientist, musician, educator, statesman, diplomat, postmaster general, philanthropist, philosopher, ambassador, economist, swimmer, traveler, military man, semanticist, linguist, and thinker? Or, who founded or helped found a hospital, an insurance company, a fire company, a college which became a university, the U.S. State Department, the dead letter office, and a lending library. Or, who worked to have streets lighted, swept, and to have them paved. Or, who invented a historically famous stove, bifocal glasses, and who became world famous for his studies of electricity. Or, who was judged by some to be the most dangerous man in America.
Would you ask, "How many signers are you talking about?"
Actually, I am talking about one man, only one of the many talented and multifaceted individuals who, collectively, are known as the Founding Fathers of our great nation.
Would you then say, "Thomas Jefferson?"
If you did name Jefferson, you would be wrong. Jefferson certainly was a talented, revered, and multifaceted man. But, the man I am going to tell you about had an even wider range of talents and accomplishments than Jefferson and he was more widely known in the world and more fully revered than Jefferson in their time.
I am going to tell you about Benjamin Franklin, who was all of the things I listed above and more.
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. He was the youngest of seventeen children. His father was a businessman who, though by no means rich, was well regarded in Boston as a man of common sense. Benjamin's formal education was brief and irregular. At age 12, he was apprenticed to his older brother, James, a printer and newspaper publisher.
From age 12 to 17, Benjamin learned the printer's trade to quite a high degree. He also taught himself to write poetry and prose, especially prose, by taking passages from the noted authors of the time and rewriting their ideas time-and-time again. In this way, his own writing came to surpass the writings of those he used as models. In setting the goals of becoming good at printing and at writing and in working diligently and effectively to achieve those goals, Benjamin displayed characteristics that he would continue to display and to perfect throughout his long and successful life.
When James was put in prison for printing material in his newspaper that the Massachusetts Council found objectionable, Benjamin--still less than 17 years old--became the publisher of the paper. James was not kept in prison long. A bit later, the Council ordered James to cease publishing the paper. Again, Benjamin became the publisher, this time in name as well as in fact. In terms of skill, Benjamin was a premier apprentice in the printing trade. However, he and his brother could not get along. There were arguments and, perhaps, physical encounters as well. In those times, masters could use physical means to keep apprentices "in line."
Benjamin finally ran away from Boston, his family, and his indenture. He first went to New York and then to Philadelphia. He was a citizen of Philadelphia for the rest of his life, even though he spent many years overseas in various diplomatic endeavors.
The young Franklin soon became the best of the printers in Philadelphia and, after a brief stay in London where he further honed his printer skills, he owned and operated one of the most successful print shops in the Colonies. He also continued to write and in l732 began publishing an almanac, "Poor Richard's Almanac," which became famous and financially successful. Through political activities he obtained printing work, such as the printing of legislative bills and of paper money, adding still further to the financial success of his business.
In l748, at the age of 42, Benjamin Franklin retired from business. He was such a financial success that he was able to devote the rest of his life to public service, to science, and to other matters that interested him. For example, his scientific experiments with and writings about electricity brought him international fame. Later on he invented the Franklin stove, bifocals, a musical instrument called the armonica (Beethoven and Mozart, among others, wrote music for it), the smokeless chimney, and the lightning rod. The Franklin stove revolutionized home heating and added measurably to human comfort. Though he could have patented his inventions and made even more money, to his credit he merely "gave" his inventions to the world.
From 1757 until 1785, Benjamin Franklin was in England and in France most of the time. First, he represented Philadelphia and other cities and some of the Colonies in England. Later, and also during the Revolutionary War, he was in France enlisting the support which ultimately led to the defeat of the English by the Colonies. Finally, he was in France as an Ambassador.
Franklin returned to the United States in 1785. During his final years he helped frame the U. S. Constitution and, in other ways, rounded out a full, effective life. He died in 1790 at the age of 84 years and three months. And, he died as one of the most loved, respected, revered, and honored men of history. He was a man of great character of even greater accomplishment. He was a citizen of the world and a man for all times.
As the introduction suggests, Benjamin Franklin's creative efforts ranged from printing to diplomacy, from science to philosophy, from business to philanthropy. I do not intend to cover all aspects of that creativity. Rather, I will focus only on a very limited aspect of it; namely, his writings.
Franklin's first notable writing consisted of a series of letters he composed secretly, using the name "Silence Dogood." Silence was supposedly a youngish widow who wrote the letters to give good advice to others. The letters were widely read by the subscribers of the newspaper that Benjamin's brother printed. No one suspected the letters were actually written by the teenage apprentice. Most believed they were written by some very mature, highly educated, and well-traveled man of the world, since both the writing and the advice were excellent by the standards of the time and since Benjamin kept his secret from everyone.
How could a sixteen year old write so well and know so much about life and its trials and triumphs? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Benjamin had been an incurable, profound, inveterate, and wide reader. The rest is a combination of talent and tenacity. He taught himself to write by first copying and then surpassing the writing masters of his day.
Benjamin continued to write articles and pamphlets during the ensuing years. He also edited--as well as published and printed-- newspapers. Thus, he practiced his skill on a daily basis. Moreover, he also practiced at great length the art of persuasion, especially political persuasion.
By 1732, when he launched the almanac, he had a wealth of experience and of knowledge. That combination of skillful writing and of knowledge contributed to the success of the almanac. Almanacs were very important in those days. An almanac and the Bible were to be found in nearly every home. Poor Richard's was filled with weather forecasts, information, wit, wisdom, astrology, poems, proverbs, aphorisms, and bits of history. In other words, it was an education in a time of few schools; it fulfilled needs which today are being met by a complex education system, by newspapers and magazines, by radio and TV, by all the aspects of our technological world.
Many of the sayings in the almanac were coined by Franklin. However, most of them were taken from previous writers, but were rewritten and much improved by him. Some of these sayings are still commonly used today; mostly by people who do not know their origin.
"A stitch in time saves nine. Success has ruined many a man. There are no ugly loves or handsome prisons. He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Most fools think they are only ignorant. A penny saved is a penny earned."
Franklin's most famous work, one that is still widely read and highly regarded today, is his "Autobiography." Actually, the small book is only an autobiographical fragment. It covers only the early years of his life, and those years but sparingly. It ends shortly after he retired and became an active scientist. Franklin's account of most of his major political and statesmanship accomplishments on the international level was never written. Most were deeds accomplished after he wrote the autobiography, as we know it.
Franklin also played a part in drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. The extent of his role in the writing of each of these documents is controversial. But, his influence, if not his words, clearly played an important part in both.
Franklin's written works are being prepared and published by Yale University. Twenty- seven volumes, yes, 27, have been issued so far. It is estimated there will be forty volumes when the project is completed. I recommend the set to you. There is, I can guarantee, something of value to you in every one of the volumes. But, in this brief paper, I can only give you the briefest of clues as to the range and value of his writings.
Benjamin Franklin stands as one of the great men of history. The verdict is clear and there is little opposition to that appraisal. The list of his accomplishments given in the introduction to this paper really provides nothing in the way of clues as to the quality of the man's accomplishments, though it does indicate how broad his interests, abilities, and accomplishments were. He was a "Renaissance Man" in the truest sense of the term.
Consistent with the objective of this paper, I will speak only about his writing in this section. To attempt to appraise all of his endeavors, or any but his writing would be to extend the length of this effort well beyond a reasonable length.
Modern readers typically have a difficult time trying to read Benjamin Franklin's works. In part this is because our language has changed. More fully, it is because the writing style of his day and the "mechanics" of writing were dramatically different. Spelling was somewhat different. So was punctuation. The most dramatic difference was in the use of capital letters.
Writers of Franklin's time used many more capital letters than we do today. Franklin followed this custom, perhaps even with a "vengeance." The ampersand (&) was much in use, too. It all makes for rather tedious reading. Moreover, even though he was one of the premiere writers of his day, by today's standards his writing is complex, turgid, stiff, and formal much of the time.
Because of this, some of Franklin's works have been edited to account for the changes. Presumably such editing has been done so Franklin's original meaning is left in tact. And, in the best of these efforts, the "flavor" of Franklin's writing is still there, too.
But, it is the "content" of Franklin's works not the style or the format that is vital. His works are read and will continue to be read, in my opinion, because he put so much wisdom and so much humanity into what he wrote. In his autobiography, he paints a picture of a very human person, one with faults as well as virtues. He details how he tried to deal with his faults and to be modest about his virtues. It is a picture of success, told by one who started humbly and who overcame much adversity. It is in some sense a story of mankind, from the dawn of history to the present, condensed into a single lifetime. No wonder the book has been translated into most of the languages of the world and no wonder is still being reprinted today and that it is still widely read.
So it is throughout his writings: Content, content, content. That is the secret. Does the writer speak beyond his time? Does he speak beyond his country? Does he speak to the heart of the human condition? Benjamin Franklin does, as few non-fiction writers ever have. That is the secret of his endurance as a popular literary figure. That is his essence.
This paper contains a brief sketch of Benjamin Franklin. It has presented a biographical outline, a survey of some of his writing, and an evaluation of that writing. But, it is only the briefest and barest of sketches. Justice cannot be done to an extraordinary life of broad-ranging and productive creativity in so few words. My purpose is to but tease the reader with enough of the enticing flavor and aroma of the man so that the reader will be motivated to pursue Benjamin Franklin on his or her own. Let's face it, a man who was all of the things that Franklin was surely deserves to be studied in our time. In fact, in difficult times such as these, perhaps he deserves special attention. True, he was a man for all seasons. But, the seasons of his life were difficult ones, indeed. They were times "to try men's souls." Franklin, more than most men of history, met his times and triumphed through them.
What more can be asked of a man? And, cannot not we who live in our troubled times not learn the most from him?
I commend the works and deeds of Doctor Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia to you. He is worthy of your closest scrutiny and most careful scholarship. He will give you more than you invest and more than you bargain for. If he was once considered the most dangerous man in America, it was because of the breadth and the depth of talent, not because he was a "physical" danger to anyone. I give you Dr. Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, the quintessential Colonial American, but also a man for all seasons, a man for all time.