Benjamin Franklin

1
Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790
2
From The Norton Anthology of American Literature
219-20

• Tenth son in family of 15 children
• Originally sent to school as tithe of
  father to study for the ministry
• Forced to leave school to work for his father, a
  chandler and soap boiler
• At 12 apprenticed to brother, a printer Silence
  Dogood Papers published
• Ran away to Philadelphia in 1723
• By 24 sole owner of successful printing shop,
  editor and publisher of Pennsylvania Gazette

3

• Offered Poor Richards Almanac for sale in 1733
  and made it an American institution
• Before he retired from business at the age of
  42, Franklin had founded a library, invented a
  stove, established a fire company, subscribed to
  an academy that became the University of
  Pennsylvania, and served as secretary to the
  American Philosophy Society.
• See paragraph two, page 220, for interesting
  contrast to Jonathan Edwards.
• Franklin signed The Declaration of Independence,
  the alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris
  ending the Revolution and the US Constitution.

4

• . . .had an uncanny instinct for success and
  knew that the new commercialism demanded
  that anyone in
  business assumes a public persona
  that best served his and his clients
  interests, even if
  it masked ones true
  self (219).

5
Franklin was a primary figure in the rise of
American pragmatism. He helped create the cult
of self-reliance that ripened into the wonders of
the Emersonian transcendentalism and the
excesses of American industrial society in the
next century. Pragmatism-- A term, first used
by C. S. Pierce in 1878, describing a doctrine
that determines value through the test of
consequences or utility (Harmon and Holman, A
Handbook to Literature, 7th edition). In other
words, the value of something or an idea is
judged by its practical value or usefulness.
6
Poor Richard's Almanac From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia Poor Richard's Almanac (sometimes
Almanack) was a yearly almanac published by
Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of
"Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for the
purpose of this work in the title. It appeared
continuously from 1732 to 1757.
7

• The almanac was a best seller for a pamphlet
  published in the American colonies print runs
  typically ran to 10,000 per year.
• It contained the typical calendar, weather,
  poems, and astronomical and astrological
  information that an almanac of the period
  contained. It is chiefly remembered, however, for
  being a repository of Franklin's aphorisms and
  proverbs, many of which live on in American
  English. These maxims typically counsel thrift
  and courtesy, with just a dash of cynicism.

8
Some sample maxims from Poor Richard's
Almanac He that falls in love with himself
will have no rivals. Where there's Marriage
without Love, there will be Love without
Marriage. Necessity never made a good bargain.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are
dead. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander
time for that's the stuff life is made of.
9

• There is no little enemy.
• God heals, and the doctor takes the fee.
• There will be sleeping enough in the grave.
• Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man
  healthy, wealthy, and wise.
• He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with
  fleas.
• Love your enemies for they tell you your faults.
  
• Be always ashamed to catch thyself idle.
• Fish and visitors stink in three days.
• Glass, China and Reputation are easily cracked
  and never well mended.

10
Blessed is he who expects nothing for he
shall never be disappointed. Eat to live,
and not live to eat. A house without woman and
firelight is like a body without soul or spirit.
A good wife and health is a man's best wealth.
Virtue and happiness are mother and
daughter. Old boys have their playthings as well
as young ones the difference is only in the
price. Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden
but it is forbidden because it's hurtful. Nor is
a Duty beneficial because it is commanded, but
it is commanded, because it's beneficial.
11
America's earliest cartoons were political in
nature. This cartoon appeared in Ben Franklin's
newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9,
1754. It appeared as part of an editorial by
Franklin commenting on the present disunited
state of the British Colonies.
12
A year after Benjamin Franklin's death, his
autobiography entitled Memoires De La Vie
Privee..., was published in Paris in March of
1791. The first English translation, The Private
Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin,
LL.D....Originally Written By Himself, And Now
Translated From The French, was published in
London in 1793.
13
Known today as The Autobiography of Benjamin
Franklin, this classic piece of Americana was
originally written for Franklin's son William,
then the governor of New Jersey. The work
portrays a fascinating
picture of life in Philadelphia,
as well as shrewd observations on the
literature, philosophy and religion of the time.
Franklin wrote the first five chapters of his
autobiography in England in 1771, resumed again
thirteen years later (1784-85) in Paris and
later in 1788 when he returned to the United
States. Franklin ends the account of his life in
1757 when he was 51 years old. Many consider this
work to be the greatest autobiography produced in
Colonial America.
14
What drives Franklin from the church and
motivates him to develop a Project for arriving
at moral perfection?
See Norton Anthology, pages 283-84
It was about this time that I conceivd the
bold and arduous Project of arriving at Moral
Perfection. I wishd to live without committing
any Fault at anytime I would conquer all that
either Natural Inclination, Custom, or Company
might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew,
what was right and wrong, I did not see why I
might not always do the one and avoid the other.
I therefore contrived the following method
(284).
15
It should be remarkd that, tho my Scheme was
not wholly without Religion there was no Mark of
any of the distinguishing Tenets of any
particular Sect (291).
If Franklin didnt base his Scheme on any
particular Sect, what is the foundation of his
list of virtues? The Revolutionary Age Franklin
and his contemporaries, including our founding
fathers, lived in is often called the American
Age of Reason. This era emphasized
self-knowledge, self-control, rationalism,
discipline, and the rule of law, order, and
decorum in public and private life (Harmon and
Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 7th ed., 9.)
16
As noted above, Franklin was a pragmatist, and
his system for moral perfection is practical and
utilitarian. In addition, Franklin and his
contemporaries, our founding fathers, are often
identified as deists. As opposed to Taylor and
Edwards, deists believed Because human beings
are rational creatures like God, they are capable
of understanding the laws of the universe and,
as God is perfect, so can human beings become
perfect through the process of education.
Practical religion consists of achieving virtue
through the rational guidance of conduct as
exemplified in the scheme for developing moral
virtues recorded by Franklin in his
Autobiography (Harmon and Holman 145).
17
What characteristics keep us from moral
perfection?
Four Natural Cardinal Virtues Prudence Justice

• The Seven Deadly Sins
• Pride
• Envy
• Lust
• Sloth
• Gluttony
• Greed
• Anger or Wrath

Temperance Fortitude
Three Christian Virtues Faith Hope Charity
(Love)
18
Franklin's List of Virtues
1. Temperance 2. Silence 3. Order 4.
Resolution 5. Frugality 6. Industry 7.
Sincerity 8. Justice
9. Moderation 10. Cleanliness 11. Tranquility 12.
Chastity 13. Humility
19
Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it
is forbidden because it's hurtful. Nor is a
Duty beneficial because it is commanded, but it
is commanded, because it's beneficial.
20
In reality there is no one of our natural
Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise
it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it,
mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still
alive, and will every now and then peep out
and show itself. You will see it perhaps
often in this History. For even if I could
conceive that I had completely overcome it, I
should probably be proud of my Humility (292).
21
Franklin stands as a model of the self-made man
and becomes a sort of cultural archetype, a
culture hero. His life exemplifies the American
dream of the self-made man, the poor boy who
makes good.
22

• Franklin helped to establish a simple,
  utilitarian style and tradition in American
  literature. In his Autobiography he set the form
  for autobiography as a literary genre. Some
  critics view Franklin as the greatest literary
  artist of eighteenth-century America. He remains
  today a widely read and influential American
  writer. One critic notes that at the time of
  Franklins death, his countrymen considered him,
  more than Washington, the father of his country.

23
As a homespun sage, as a statesman, and as a
pamphleteer in the cause of liberty, Franklin
shaped the character of the nation. He was the
only American to sign the four documents that
created the republic the Declaration of
Independence, the treaty of alliance with France,
the treaty of peace with England, and the
Constitution. At the time of his death, his
countrymen considered him,more than Washington,
to be the father of his country (196).
24
Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden but it
is forbidden because it's hurtful. Nor is a Duty
beneficial because it is commanded, but it is
commanded, because it's beneficial.
25

Lectures in American Literature Fall 2006 By
Bill Shaw Professor of English, ret. Brazosport
CollegeLake Jackson, Texas