The autobiography of Ben Franklin:
Background:
The 18th century was often called the age of enlightenment or the age of reason
Ben lived from 1706 -1790; he was born in
Ben’s Father:
His father was married twice with 17 kids total, Ben was born to his second wife – the large number of children meant that Ben had siblings who were substantially older than he was [Autry’s great grandpa had 22 kids]
It was not uncommon for 1st wives to die in that time period; there were many stresses and difficulties of living the austere puritan life. When this happened, the widower would often remarry to a younger woman
At first, his father wanted him to become a minister but changed his mind when he learned how much it would cost
Ben:
Ben received a basic education however he ultimately rejects Puritanism in favor of reason
He was driven by the desire for enlightenment and not by superstitious passions
The puritans believed that education was one’s armor against the devil; e.g. the knowledge of the bible could be used to dissuade the devil [Abigail and proctor example – devil says she’s so fine – proctor says thou shall not commit adultery] – this is why all the puritans were given at least a fundamental education
1718:
After his basic education he was apprenticed to his brother [James Franklin] and would ultimately become a printer – his father did this because it was too expensive to send him to a college where he could learn to be a minister
His father thought he saw a bookish nature in Ben – but refused to intervene when Ben believed he was being unfairly treated by his brother – Ben’s brother was put in jail [for printing critical things about the king] during which time Ben ran the business and began to enjoy the liberty of not being forced to do things inefficiently, he rips up the apprentice documents – when his brother returned and began to physically beat him he refused to work for him anymore
Ben’s brother essentially “blacklists” him, telling everyone in the town not to hire him – this meant that Ben had to work for his brother or not at all
1723:
He runs away to
A friend had told him that he knew someone in Philly who would probably hire Ben – so Ben goes and works there until he has a chance to go to
1724:
Ben goes to
Ben ultimately had the chance to study abroad and learn all the subtle techniques used in his trade – he went to
1726:
Ben, back in philly, sets up his own business
He was an extremely hard worker and got a good reputation as such; he completes, even establishes the rags à riches archetypal model with his great printing success
1732:
starts publishing à Poor Richards Almanac – great success
Once again, he had a reputation of being a “go getter” and worked very hard – he published his first work which presented anecdotes for life that are still in common use today; e.g. early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
These sayings especially appealed to farmers – the book was
He published both his own and others works
1748:
Ben had made so much money that he no longer had to work – he retires from his business in order to pursue other interests [I missed ½ this slide so if you have it send it to me otherwise ill go see autry tomorrow and get it]
1750s:
He also became a pioneer in education and founded the
At his school he taught practical things like bookkeeping, astronomy, navigation, and others – he also founded the concept of an elective, a class that a student will take because he or she is genuinely interested in a topic – until now everyone had been enrolled in standardized courses
1760s:
Politics, he was elected to both the continental congress and the
1776:
He was on the committee that was writing the declaration of independence; however he had the humility to admit his inferiority at political writing to other members of the committee – the general consensus was that Thomas Jefferson was the predominant writer and as such they allowed him to compose the entire thing before editing it
Questions of motives –
Autry group project with the three stooges – the dumb vote for one person and the smart vote for another and there are more dumb people than there are smart people – he got outvoted even though he knew he was right
1780:
Ben Franklin was an ambassador to
1787:
Delegate to the constitutional convention
à Per [or is it prior to?] this convention there was no standing army at all, they relied totally upon militia
Ben put his country before his personal interests and urged the ratification of the constitution
Structure of the Autobiography:
I. Preparation for greatness – false starts, apprenticeship and running away – rags to riches
II. Plans for moral self improvement
III. Plans for improvement of society
IV. Utility [usefulness] of government
1. Quintessential [archetypal] American story
~Namely, the rags to riches story, the idea that the government would not impede an individual -and that with hard work you had a chance of success
~All American success stories
~Pragmatic [practical] purpose: used his life as a model to imitate – one should act in accord with reason and not with passion – he wants his son and others to model their lives after his – he shows humans how to get better
~he had the fundamental belief that if something was not good enough, we should make it better, not give up – we want improvement, not just changes – change can be bad
~he was never given the opportunity to run for president because by the time they instituted the office, he was already very old (81 to be precise)
~childhood emphasis on the discovery of some useful occupation for him – his parents were smarter than Autry’s, when Ben wanted to be a poet they said poets are all broke which prompted Ben to take up prose and ultimately write his bestseller [the almanac] – autry’s parents told him that he could be whatever he wanted to and so autry tried to be a poet but his total earnings amounted to $3 – [17 cent lawsuit example]
~Ben’s love of reading prompted his father to pursue him becoming a minister – the high price of tuition changed his mind
2. Self improvement
~basically, he looked at himself and said “what should I do to make myself better” [connect to improvement vs. change]
~he devised a system of 13 virtues and proposed a 13 week system for perfecting his sould [1 a week]
~this belief that he could perfect himself and that works will be the way that god judges you [as opposed to whether or not you are “saved”] was contrary to the puritan beliefs
~he made charts to record his progress [see page 217,218 in the harper book]
~daily schedule – he is a pragmatist [reason and practicality as opposed to passion] and believed that we need assessment of where we are, he set goals and made plans for achieving these goals; this is a very modern problem-solving method
3. Improvement of society [autry has no notes regarding this and everything following so this is all speculation on my part – don’t hold me responsible if its wrong]:
~he was a major force behind the education system – coming up with revolutionary new ways [e.g. the elective]
~he debates with a fried about whether or not women should be educated and sides with the women – he sees that society could be greater helped by an egalitarian mindset
~provides anecdotes for life in Poor Richard’s Almanac these are supposed to help better the general aspects of 18th century societal life
4. Utility of government – once again this is pure speculation:
~he took a pragmatic approach to life – so he probably did the same with government
~he would most likely have taken an egalitarian approach – e.g. it doesn’t matter whether the best man for the job is black [or even a woman] – if he/she is the best candidate he/she should get the position
~he disagreed with the illogical British tyranny of a government
~let me know if you guys have any further ideas on this topic
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