Who Was Ben Franklin? Essay Example

Benjamin Franklin is perhaps one of America’s most famous sons. His life embodies what today is known as the American Dream, as this self made man came from somewhat humble beginnings and through hard work, became one of the most famous and influential thinkers in history. Born in Boston on January 17, 1706 to a New England family of modest circumstances, he worked his way up using his wit and cunning to become one of the most famous statesmen that America has ever known. In his biography of Franklin, James Srodes writes, “This tale is about that [Franklin’s] evolution from striving craftsman to daring diplomat, spy, and master builder of a nation. Franklin’s life is more dramatic than any yarn the old storyteller could have devised for himself.”

Franklin lived his life for America, serving her in the revolution and after as a diplomat, being an official representative of America to European nations. Franklin was a Founding Father, and one of the craftsmen of the Declaration of Independence and later, the Constitution. Franklin was also a scholar, a journalist, a scientist and an inventor. He was a philosopher who has high ideals for the future of America, where he was to see his ideas manifest into reality.  Today Franklin is remembered for his many accomplishments, which have made him one of the most well-known, remembered and respected of the original Founding Fathers.

While Franklin liked to say that he came from impoverished roots, the truth was a little less dramatic. Josiah Franklin was from a landowning family in Northamptonshire in England. By trade, the Josiah was a silk dyer in the English market town of Banbury (Srodes, 12). The Franklin’s were also very religious and were faithful Calvinists. Before Ben was born, the family immigrated to Massachusetts where they hoped to find more religious freedom. Since there was not a market for silk in the Puritan Massachusetts, Josiah became a candle-maker instead. Josiah’s wife Anne died in childbirth and left Josiah with 5 young children. He quickly courted and married Abiah Folger, who was to become the mother of Benjamin Franklin, as well as 9 other children.

Early on young Ben Franklin showed the aptitude of a scholar and Josiah wished to send him to study for the clergy. At 8, Ben was enrolled in the Boston Latin School where he studied religion and the classics (Srodes, 17).  While Ben excelled at the school, which was to prepare him for entry to Harvard and entry into the clergy, Josiah removed him after only 8 months, claiming financial constraints, though Ben Franklin later revealed that he believed his father had removed him after a hard look at the penurious life of a clergyman (Srodes, 17).

However, this dream was financially unfeasible for the family, so instead young Ben, at the age of 13, was sent to apprentice with his brother James, who has recently returned from England with a new printing press (The Great Idea Finder). The life of a printer suited Benjamin, who in his spare time wrote anonymous articles for the paper he and James printed, the New England Courant, under the pseudonym Silence Dogood (Srodes, 26).  Even at 15, Franklin had a way with words and a liberal bias. His articles were immensely popular, due to their pithy observations on the political scene of the day. He published his essays under the James also had liberal leanings and printed articles that often raised the hackles of local authorities, who at one point put James Franklin in jail and forbid him to publish his paper (The Great Idea Finder).

Franklin was a self taught man who, though not enrolled in an official school, continued to study and never stopped learning. In his spare time he read books on arithmetic, geometry and navigation (Srodes, 22). He was an avid reader of philosophy and many of ideas were inspired by some of the greatest writer’s, both historically and of his day. His readings included Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Parallel Lives by Plutarch, Essay on the Projects by Daniel Defoe, Essays to Do Good by Cotton Mather, and the Spectator by Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison. The Spectator, especially, inspired young Franklin who spent much time mastering the style of prose in which the book was written (The Great Idea Finder). Ben Franklin was especially inspired by an early treatise on vegetarianism that he read when he was young, and remained a vegetarian for the rest of his life (Srodes, 24).

During his five years as an apprentice printer under the tutelage of his brother James, Ben became a master printer, a skill that was to serve him well in the future. However, the two bickered, and eventually, in 1723, Ben left this brothers shop to try his luck in New York City. Ben immediately called on William Bradford, the man who had opened the first printing works in both Philadelphia and New York. While Bradford did not have work at the time for Ben, he referred him to his son, who ran the Philadelphia Press. Ben arrived in Philadelphia and met eventually found work with Samuel Keimer, who helped him secure lodging with the Read family, whose daughter Deborah Ben would later marry (Srodes, 28).

Ben Franklin’s younger days were filled with adventure and were not without mishap. While living in Philadelphia, his printing skills caught the attention of the governor of Pennsylvania who “promised to set him up in business for himself in young Franklin would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment (U.S. History).” Like many deals that are too good to be true, this one fell through but not until after Ben had arrived in London. He had to spend the next several months in London working at print shops in order to pay for his way back to America (U.S. History).

Women also played an important role in young Ben’s education. He wrote a famous letter entitled, “Advice to a Young Man” in which he advises a young man in how to choose a mistress. The letter reflects the hard lessons that Franklin earned in his youth at the feet of women. One lesson involved his future wife Deborah Read. Before he had left for England, she had been hinting at marriage to Ben, but not being ready, he had left for overseas without promising her hand in marriage. When he returned, she had married another man. Franklin was known for his lusty ways, and he did not deem chastity to be a desirable trait, according to notes he left behind (Srodes, 57).  Later, in 1730, he fathered a child named William, whose mother’s identity remains unknown (Srodes, 60).

Franklin writes of his youthful encounters with women, “In the mean time, that hard-to-be governed Passion of Youth had hurried me frequently into Intrigues with low Women that fell in my Way, which were attended with some Expense and great Inconvenience, besides a continual Risk to my Health by a Distemper which of all Things I dreaded, tho’ by great good Luck I escaped it (Srodes, 60).” In his letter, “Advice to a Young Man”, Franklin urges the young man to avoid prostitutes and to instead find a nice older woman to make his mistress, probably due to his own experiences as a youth, which were obviously full of dramatic encounters.

Finally, on September 1, 1730, Franklin settled down with his old sweetheart Deborah Reed, whose husband had run off. Since the whereabouts of the husband were unknown, the two could not be married in a church, so they made a public declaration of marriage under common law (Srodes, 61). By this time Franklin was running his own printing shop and printing his own paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. It became the most popular of the eight weekly newspapers that circulated in the colonies, as it carried lots of news and information and was, at least at the beginning, light on the political criticism.

In 1733 he began printing his own almanac, Poor Richard’s Almanack.  The fictional character of Poor Richard Saunders offered readers humorous burlesques and salty aphorisms, as well as agricultural and weather advice (Srodes, 66). Poor Richards was a hit in the colonies, and had a circulation reaching at least 10,000 readers. Franklin’s popularity as a writer gained him notoriety throughout the colonies and he began to emerge as a rising citizen. Some of his contributions to the city of Philadelphia included helping to establish better plans of transportation for the city, improving communication routs, and aided insurance plans against fire (U.S. History).

In 1736, Franklin joined the Freemasons, which had begun to re-emerge in the 1700’s across Europe. The first Monday of each month, Franklin met with fellow Masons. Each Friday night, he met with his philosophical group, Junto, the members of which were later to become some of the leaders of the revolution. Franklin also served as an American diplomat to England during the French Indian War. He was sent to England in 1757 to by the “Pennsylvania Assembly to petition the king for the right to levy taxes on proprietary lands. After completing his mission, he remained in England for five years as the chief representative of the American colonies (The Great Idea Finder).”

In the early days of the American Revolution, Franklin went to France as the official ambassador of the thirteen colonies in order to elicit their backing as allies during the war. Franklin was very well received there, and the remained in Paris some years, “helping to work out the future destiny of the United States of America (U.S. History).”

In addition to being an important diplomat, scholar and thinker, Franklin was also a scientist and an inventor. His contributions include, first and foremost, his work with electricity. He advanced the theory that lighting was an electrical phenomenon and proposed an effective way for demonstrating this fact, using a kite in 1752. He also proposed the idea that there were two types of electricity, positive and negative.  “In recognition of his impressive scientific accomplishments, Franklin received honorary degrees from the University of St. Andrews and the University of Oxford. He also became a fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge and, in 1753, was awarded its Copley Medal for distinguished contributions to experimental science (The Great Idea Finder).”

Benjamin Franklin has gone down in history as a Renaissance man. While lacking any real formal education, he managed to rise to great heights, both politically and intellectually. He was also a great humanitarian, an done of his last acts was to sign a petition to the U.S. Congress on February 12, 1790 urging the abolition of slavery and the suppression of the slave trade. He died in his Philadelphia home just two months later, at the age of 84.

References

“A Quick Biography of Ben Franklin” US History 2010. 16 November 2010. http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm

“Benjamin Franklin” The Great Idea Finder 9 October 2006. 16 November 2010. http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/franklin.htm

“Franklin’s Contributions to the American Revolution as a Diplomat in France” U.S. History 2010. 16 November 2010 http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/history/franklin.html

Srodes, James. Franklin: The Essential Founding Father Regnery Washington, DC: Regnery     Publishing, Inc, 2002.

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