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    A Benjamin Franklin Reader
    A Benjamin Franklin Reader
    A Benjamin Franklin Reader
    Ebook753 pages14 hours

    A Benjamin Franklin Reader

    By Walter Isaacson

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    About this ebook

    A selection of Benjamin Franklin’s writings, with an introduction and commentary by renowned author Walter Isaacson.

    Selected and annotated by the author of the acclaimed Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, this collection of Franklin’s writings shows why he was the bestselling author of his day and remains America’s favorite founder and wit. Includes an introductory essay exploring Franklin’s life and impact as a writer, and each piece is accompanied by a preface and notes that provide background, context, and analysis.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateJun 15, 2005
    ISBN9780743274838
    A Benjamin Franklin Reader
    Author

    Walter Isaacson

    Walter Isaacson is the bestselling author of biographies of Jennifer Doudna, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane and was CEO of the Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2023. Visit him at Isaacson.Tulane.edu.

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    Reviews for A Benjamin Franklin Reader

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Franklin has always fascinated me and has always been my favorite Founding Father, just ahead of Jefferson, so I am glad I finally pulled this bio off the shelf and dug in. It is quite mind-blowing what Franklin jammed into his eighty-four years- as a scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer and practical/political thinker. He was also the Forrest Gump of his time, inserting himself into many historical milestones, in America and abroad. The author also shines a light on Franklin's flaws, which make him even more human. He was not a very good father or husband, which I found very surprising and his adoration for young girls was borderline creepy. I like the tone of this jaunty narrative, but, for me, it bogged down a bit in the details, especially in the use of extensive quotes, which can be overwhelming. It is still a very solid biography.
    • 4/5
      A great book! I deserve a dreaded blue flag (or something) for trying to review an audio abridgement, but I definitively enjoyed this account of an amazing genius with some typical human weaknesses. The political conflicts within his immediate family (son, grandson) were expected and well, shocking to read, nonetheless. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Easy to read. Very interesting. Moves along.
    • 4/5
      Well done but author felt need to constantly remind reader that yes, BF was talented, but not a poet and not a philosopher like Hume, not a scientist like Newton. He mentioned this repeatedly. Annoying. Otherwise fascinating insight. Last half of book was lengthy.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent biography of Franklin. Isaacson didn't gloss over the dysfunctionality of Franklin's family, though he didn't apply the same hard look at William Penn's family (Penn's family and the citizens of the Pennsylvania were at odds over taxes). But then it would have been more than a simple biography. It is well worth the read!!
    • 4/5
      A solid biography of Benjamin Franklin that does justice to all aspects of his life. I enjoyed this read and although I already knew the overarching story, I learned what felt like dozens of anecdotes about Franklin and his life. I especially enjoyed the parts about his printing business and his scientific pursuits.

      I was a bit put off by the way the book was set up. I did not care for having the "outline" format where he would deal with one specific aspect of Franklin and then move on to a different aspect, each with its own sub-heading. To me it tried to put Franklin in a box too much rather than just write a flowing narrative. The writing itself was great, and the history was outstanding, but I would have liked it better if the author had tried to weave the story together in one seamless flow.

      I would recommend this book to any lovers of history.
    • 4/5
      This was an very interesting, well-written biography. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      I liked this book better than Walter Isaacson's Einstein biography. The authors seems more inclined to view Franklin warts and all, from several angles. A balanced, detailed account.
    • 5/5
      Excellent book! Walter Isaacson provides a well-rounded look at arguably the most important American of all time. Franklin was involved in so many important decisions as our country was founded that that alone would put him in the pantheon of revered Americans. But the fact that he was such a successful inventor, scientist, philosopher, philanthropist, and more makes him truly one of the most accomplished humans of all time. What makes Franklin all the more amazing is that he abhorred elitism and seemed to always keep his feet on the ground.
    • 5/5
      Warmly written, this is an incredibly engaging biography of Franklin not only as an American founder, but as a citzen of the world.
    • 4/5
      Fellow Bookshelf reader Dick Jacob calls Benjamin Franklin the true father of our country and after reading this wonderful biography, I agree. Isaacson's eminently readable book neatly chronicles a Paul Harvey "the rest of the story" narrative about an amazing man that actually transcended his legend. I learned much about Franklin here, and better still, about his hand in the shaping of our country. Most highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Great book.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating biography of a key figure in American history, revealing far more depth and nuance than found in his well known Autobiography. Isaacson fleshes out a life that is even more pivotal in key events in history than you may know, and a man who had as many shortcomings and foibles as one could have, yet persevered and repeatedly reinvented himself to match what circumstances he encountered. Neither a glowing paean to Franklin nor a condemnation by modern standards, but brings more light to the complex life of B. Franklin, printer.
    • 3/5
      Some surprising learnings on Franklin - a complicated, ingenious, yet also personally flawed at family relationships.
    • 4/5
      Isaacson’s biography of Benjamin Franklin is a welcome antidote for the madness and vulgarity of what passes for contemporary American political discourse. Isaacson takes the reader back to the formative years of American society and the many key moments and personalities associated with our nation’s founding and independence. He paints Franklin as an amazing contributor to civic and political life as well as a polymath with an inveterate curiosity about science. At the same time, however, Isaacson is careful not to paint an overly rosy picture. He makes the case, for example, that Franklin’s personal relationships with members of his nuclear family (especially his brother, wife, son, and daughter) were rather wanting, cold, and shallow. Franklin seemed more interested in and energized by intellectual banter with friends and famous names, his grandchildrens’ adoration, and flirting with lady friends. That said, how many of us possess unblemished characters which the scrutiny of a biographer’s close analysis of our lives and letters would fail to find personal shortcomings and inadequacies? Franklin was a great man, all things considered, who contributed with arguably unmatched impact to shaping our nation at a pivotal time. Isaacson’s biography was fun, carefully researched, well written, interest-filled, and balanced.
    • 2/5
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    • 2/5
      This book does a good job of highlighting Franklin's achievements, but often reads like an encyclopedia, especially in Franklin's early years. I would have appreciated more of an attempt to explore Franklin's motivations and inner life, even if some of it needed to be speculative.Also, I don't quite trust that Isaacson has completely addressed the key points of Franklin's life and legacy, or put them in the appropriate context. For example, in the section on the Treaty of Paris, there is no mention of the secret codicil about Florida, which caused so much consternation in Congress (and is discussed in depth in Ketcham's biography of Madison). There is no mention of how Congress was split between those who trusted France and saw Franklin as their hero, and those who distrusted France and Franklin by extension. There is no exploration of whether the lack of public mourning for Franklin was due to his petition against slavery (as speculated by Chernow). It is surprising to me that biographies of these other founding fathers have information about Franklin that Isaacson does not even mention, much less explore. Another example that made me worry about whether I could trust what I was reading was this line from Isaacson: "Jefferson was all too familiar with the darkness that infected Adams." This is a fairly strong statement, and seems quite out of line with the Jefferson-Adams relationship portrayed in McCullough. The only support from Isaacson for Jefferson's opinion was one sentence in a letter from Jefferson to Madison: "He hates Franklin, he hates Jay, he hates the French, he hates the English -- to whom will he adhere?" So, I looked up the original letter. In the very next sentences, Jefferson went on to say, "His vanity is a lineament in his character which had entirely escaped me. His want of taste I had observed. Notwithstanding all this he has a sound head on substantial points and I think he has integrity. I am glad therefore that he is of the commission & expect he will be useful in it. His dislike of all parties, and all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give the same fair play to his reason as would a general benevolence of temper. At any rate honesty may be extracted even from poisonous weeds."I just don't think Jefferson's first sentence, in context, supports a "darkness" "infecting" Adams. Moreover, the overall context of Jefferson's letter may be that since Madison already really doesn't like Adams, Jefferson is trying to argue against Madison's most negative opinions in the least confrontational way possible, by seeming to agree with Madison's negative viewpoint perhaps more than he actually does. So, why would Isaacson make such a strong statement based on such flimsy support? He can't actually share Madison's antipathy of 200 years ago. Was it just sloppy research? I looked up the footnote to Isaacson's paragraph, and found that Isaacson's Jefferson quote was taken not from the original Jefferson letter, but from a secondary source. Was this book just assembled from other popular histories, instead of from primary sources and academic histories?
    • 4/5
      This was a pleasure and just the kind of biography I find trustworthy. The kind that acknowledges other views and controversies and with extensive notes and sources in the back. More than that, it's the rare biography that can inspire smiles and even giggles--I'd mark this up to five stars if I could credit Isaacson for that--but the source of the humor is the frequent quotes from Benjamin Franklin himself. Isaacson said in his introduction that "Benjamin Franklin is the Founding Father who winks at us" and that proved to be so--his pragmatism and humor is the keynote to his character. Before reading this, if someone asked me which Founding Father I'd chose to have dinner and conversation with I think I would have chosen Jefferson. After this it's hard not to name Franklin as a favorite and the one with the most winning personality--at least if you weren't married to him. Or one of his children.Franklin has his faults, goodness knows, and Isaacson doesn't gloss over them, but they just make him all the more poignantly human. I've heard it said that the Revolutionary War was really a civil war given how the lines between Patriots versus Loyalists cut through families. Of all the Founding Fathers, the cut was sharpest with Benjamin Franklin--his own son was the King's Governor of New Jersey and chose the opposing side. I did know that before reading this biography but there was plenty I didn't know--for instance that this man so identified with Philadelphia was born and grew up in Boston and spent so many years in England as well as Paris. Isaacson, who wrote biographies of Einstein and Steve Jobs, does justice to not just Franklin the statesman but the inventor and scientist as well. And throughout and especially in his epilogue gives us not just an assessment of the man but the biography of how he was received by others such as Sinclair Lewis, D.H. Lawrence and John Updike. An engaging and lively biography.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Very readable biography of a multi-talented American: at time a tradesman, inventor, scientist, philosopher, diplomat, statesman and wit. This is an excellent biography, vividly describing Franklin's long journey from loyalist printer to revolutionary statesman, including the complex relationships with family and friends.
    • 4/5
      "Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winked at us" (p 2). What a great way to start a biography about a man whose life is such common knowledge you don't feel like you could read yet another one and get anything new out of it. It is Isaacson's writing style that sets him apart from all the other biographies. From the very beginning, Isaacson draws you into Franklin's world with such ease and humor. His style of writing is charming and winsome in a myriad of ways, but I liked that he used such words as "sassy" and "spunky" to describe people. A lot of Isaacson's information is drawn from Franklin's own words, either from his autobiography (even correcting Mr. Franklin from time to time) or from Franklin's personal letters. I particularly enjoyed Franklin's tongue in cheek research about the smell of farts correlating to the type of food one eats. But, Isaacson's playful account doesn't mean he refrains from personal critical opinion about our founding father's actions, especially concerning Franklin's treatment of his immediate family. He defends Franklin as much as he can concerning the relationships Franklin has with women other than his wife, claiming they were mostly nonsexual. However, Isaacson has sympathy for Franklin's family who spend nearly two decades without him. In addition to Franklin's personal life, Isaacson also is extremely thorough in detailing Franklin's civic contributions, political dealings and public life.
    • 3/5
      This is very slow going... not nearly as interesting as his Job's book. Chronology seems to be missing.

      At about 40% in I found this quite tedious...Issacson jumps around illogically and repeats himself -- the last is quite confusing on a Kindle Touch because sometimes it will just leap forward chapters or pages...

      I was surprised how much I didn't like Franklin as a person because of the way he neglected his immediate family.

      Yes he was an amazingly accomplished man.

      But.

      I'm not sure that makes up for the way he acted personally.

      But maybe he was just acting in tune with the times. I dunno.
    • 3/5
      Titkeeesdfghhhhhhzsddd djd jd k is a great place to work for me
    • 4/5
      Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson published in June 2004This book is just my cup of tea, but, I must admit a couple of times at least I tired of reading this biography, however every time I returned to read this book, I quickly re-engaged. In essence the language is fluid and throughout is easy to comprehend. The biographical time line is straight from birth to death covering the years from 1706 to 1790. The final chapter, a verdict on our current perception of his life is a great finale. Ben was a remarkable workaholic and was a great scientific experimentalist. Ben was a pragmatic tinkerer who invented the first lightning conductors that still today are used to protect our buildings from fire by lightening. Ben truly was one of the major US founding fathers and retired as a successful business entrepreneur at age 42, and then mostly spent his time as a Statesman, first for the State of Pennsylvania, and then later as the first US Ambassador to France. Ben spent a total of 16 years in London and 9 years in Paris. Ben sailed across the Atlantic a total of 8 times. This book was a great follow on to my recent study of the peculiarities of the US Constitution resulting from the conference of 1787. Ben was unique in that his signature is attached to the four major documents of his time, namely, the Declaration of Independence, the 1783 Treaty of Paris that concluded the Peace Conference with the British, the Treaty of Alliance with France and the US Constitution. The Isaacson book is a history buff’s dream as it includes a 2 page chronology of Ben’s life time, a short life summary of all the individuals referenced, an extensive listing of all the sources employed and an extensive index. The text of the biography itself extends over 493 pages. The reference pages add another 115 pages. This is a truly top notch academic work as well as a great read.21 August 2013
    • 4/5
      I think we all grow up hearing, reading and being told about the founding fathers but rarely do any of us really read about them as individuals. Every time I do I’m amazed at what I read and how far ahead of their time they really were. Benjamin Franklin epitomizes this; printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, politician and above it all human. This book gets into some of that nitty-gritty; the women, the ruthless businessman, more women, questionable husband and father. The author does an amazing job walking us through Franklin’s life and showing us the brilliance of the man and the fallibility at the same time.Wonderful read and would recommend it to everyone – just be prepared to devote some time to it.
    • 4/5
      A balanced portrayal of a complex and extraordinary man.
    • 4/5
      A good first book to start an extended study of Franklin.
    • 4/5
      Truly enjoyed this one. you get a genuine sense of Franklin's eccentic nature, and spirit of adventure. Inventor, and diplomat, as well as postmaster. Enjouyed learning about his strained relationship with his bastard son, who becam governor of New Jeresey, and becasue of his son's loyalist stance, their relationshipo remained strained.
    • 4/5
      I thought Walter Isaacson’s bio of Benjamin Franklin to be a fascinating read into this outstanding patriot. I always believed that Franklin was one of the cornerstones in the founding of our great nation. Mr. Isaacson does an excellent job of bringing out Franklin’s achievements both in the personal and political arena. It’s a great bio and if want to know about this patriot then I highly recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      I can't really tell you why this biography took me a year to finish. Laziness on my part most likely rather than any fault of the author or his subject. After reading the exhaustive work on John Adams by David McCullough, I felt like I should read about Adams's contemporaries and when I noticed this book collecting dust at my mom's house, I took it home. I guess it was the known quantity aspect of the biography that made it slow going for me. In broad strokes I knew how things would turn out; that eventually we'd get France's reluctant backing in the separation from Britain, that we'd win the war and that Franklin's behind-the-scenes efforts to effect both outcomes were constant and often the only efforts.Franklin the man was a sketch for me though, even if I did somewhat know him through the long tunnel of history. I knew of his scientific and inventing contributions, but didn't know how early on he made some of his discoveries - the popular motif of Franklin as an old man with a kite is way off base. I also had no idea of his origins, how he came to the Colonies or early civic activities and now I feel on better ground. Everything he did was motivated out of a desire for a practical benefit. This might not put him in the same league as theoretical or "pure" scientists, but it does make his contributions feel more lasting.I also have a better understanding of his attitude toward setting up an independent state and his role in doing so. He was a master of diplomacy and compromise in the face of strong personalities with little patience for the process. His ability to work with others and get the best out of them proved invaluable to not only the Declaration of Independence and the diplomatic missions it spawned, but the Constitution itself - calling it as near perfect as it could be.Isaacson presents his information in an ostensible chronological format, but often the facts he presents seem to be competing for attention. They come thick and fast and are sometimes difficult to digest before another one comes along. He does, however, try to present all sides of his subject, not just dwelling on the inventor or diplomat. I don't have enough experience with biographies or enough expertise on the academics that are thought of as proper, or research techniques thought of as rigorous, but I did not doubt that Isaacson gave us the facts as he saw them. I was glad for the information at the back about characters and sources.
    • 4/5
      I've been learning more about this early American leader for my BBF walking tour and I find him increasingly fascinating the more I learn about him. Isaacson writes a lively narrative with a good balance between historical accuracy and popular history as well as warts & all without sensationalism.I won't go into a detailed summary of the book but here are a few elements that stand out for me:
      • Isaacson goes beyond simple biographical details and makes a good attempt at an intellectual history of Franklin, especially in the earlier parts of the book.
      • Franklin, for all his virtues, was not above getting dirty in politics. It's interesting to compare to the recent book I read about Aaron Burr and how differently their posthumous reputations have been adjudged when they were both very much men of their times. Then there's the idolatrous manner in which the Founding Fathers are revered in comparison to today's "corrupt politicians" which just isn't realistic.
      • Franklin had an interesting habit of forming a surrogate family around him when he was away from home for extended periods, acting in an avuncular role for bright young women and his own grandsons. Yet he was often distant from his own children and spent many, many years separated from his wife.
      • Another interesting contrast: Franklin has been called "the first American" and famously wore frontier-style clothing when visiting the French court, yet he seemed to jump at any opportunity to go to Europe and lived abroad in London and Paris for extended portions of his life.
      All in all this is a great introduction to a fascinating and hard to understand man.

    Book preview

    A Benjamin Franklin Reader - Walter Isaacson

    Introduction

    When he was a young teenager working as an apprentice at his brother’s printing shop in Boston, Benjamin Franklin, America’s original apostle of self improvement, devised a wonderful little method to teach himself how to be a powerful and persuasive writer. He would read the essays of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in The Spectator, the irreverent London daily that flourished in 1711–12, take notes, jumble them up, set them aside, and then return to them a few days later to see how well he could replicate the original. Sometimes he would even turn the notes into poetry, which helped him expand his vocabulary by forcing him to search for words with the right rhythm or rhyme, before trying to recreate what Addison and Steele had written.

    When he found his own version wanting, he would correct it. But I sometimes had the pleasure, he recalled, of fancying that in certain particulars of small import I had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, and this encouraged me to think that I might possibly in time come to be a tolerable English writer, of which I was extremely ambitious.

    More than making himself merely tolerable, he became the most popular writer in colonial America. He may also have been, as the great literary historian Carl Van Doren has flatly declared, the best writer in America during his lifetime. (The closest rival for that title would probably be the preacher Jonathan Edwards, author of such vivid sermons as Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, who was certainly more intense and literary, though far less felicitous and amusing.) Franklin’s self-taught style, as befitting a protégé of Addison and Steele, featured a direct and conversational prose, which was lacking in poetic flourish but was powerful in its directness and humor.

    Franklin’s father had originally intended to send the last of his sons to Harvard to study for the ministry, but observing his cheeky impertinence, especially about matters of religion, he decided that it would be a waste of money. Instead, he decided to apprentice the young boy at age 12 to his older brother James, who had learned the print trade in London and returned to Boston to open up shop and start the first feisty and independent newspaper in the colonies.

    The print trade was a natural calling for young Franklin. From a child I was fond of reading, he recalled, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Indeed, books were the most important formative influence in his life, and he was lucky to grow up in Boston where libraries had been carefully nurtured since the Arabella brought fifty volumes along with the town’s first settlers in 1630.

    Franklin was able to sneak books from the other apprentices who worked for booksellers, as long as he returned the volumes clean. Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should be missed or wanted.

    His favorite was John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the saga of the tenacious quest by a man named Christian to reach the Celestial City, which was published in 1678 and quickly became popular among the Puritans and other dissenters who settled Boston. As important as its religious message, at least for Franklin, was the refreshingly clean and sparse prose style it offered in an age when writing had become clotted by the richness of the Restoration. Honest John was the first that I know of, Franklin correctly noted, who mixed narration and dialogue, a method of writing very engaging to the reader.

    A central theme of Bunyan’s book—and of the passage from Puritanism to Enlightenment, and of Franklin’s life—was contained in its title: progress, the concept that individuals, and mankind in general, move forward and improve based on a steady increase of knowledge and the wisdom that comes from conquering adversity. Christian’s famous opening phrase sets the tone: As I walked through the wilderness of this world… Even for the faithful, this progress was not solely the handiwork of the Lord but also the result of a human struggle, by individuals and by communities, to triumph over obstacles.

    Likewise, another Franklin favorite—and one must pause to marvel at a twelve-year-old with such tastes in leisure pursuits—was Plutarch’s Lives, which is also based on the premise that individual endeavor can change the course of history for the better. Plutarch’s heroes, like Bunyan’s Christian, are honorable men who believe that their personal strivings are intertwined with the progress of mankind. History is a tale, Franklin came to believe, not of immutable forces but of human endeavors.

    His writing style, as well as his belief in the power of the written word to encourage useful civic endeavors, was also influenced by two books he borrowed from his father’s little library shelf: Daniel Defoe’s Essay on Projects and Cotton Mather’s Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good. Throughout his life as an author and publisher, he believed that writing should primarily be judged by its practical effects and usefulness. He had little use for the ethereal artistic and sublime poetic aspirations of the Romantic period that was beginning to flower near the end of his life. Instead, he was an avatar of the Enlightenment, with its belief in reason, practicality, direct prose and earthly enquiry. To that he added the wit he found in Addison, Steele, Defoe and later Jonathan Swift.

    His first significant published writings came when he was only sixteen and he invented the pseudonym Silence Dogood to get himself published in his brother’s paper. (His jealous brother would not have printed them if he had known the true author.) Like many other witty writers of the Enlightenment, he was partial to pseudonyms and hoaxes, and he wrote his last such piece, a purported speech by a member of the divan of Algiers defending the enslavement of Christians, on his deathbed at eighty-four.

    After running away from his apprenticeship in Boston at 17, Franklin settled in Philadelphia, where he soon launched his own print shop and newspaper. He perfected various tricks of the trade to build circulation: gossip, sex, crime and humor. But he also used his pen to encourage worthy civic endeavors and, later, to push his political views. His Poor Richard’s almanacs combined humor and his penchant for self-improvement to become far and away the best-selling books of the era. And he used his talent to create a great media empire that included franchised print shops and newspapers throughout the colonies and then a distribution system, the colonial postal service, that tied them all together and helped give an advantage to his own content.

    His output was wondrously diverse and prolific. He wrote pointed tales and humorous hoaxes, amusing essays, letters both chatty and sophisticated, scientific treatises, detailed charters for civic associations, political tracts, plans for uniting the colonies, propaganda pieces supporting the American cause in Britain and then France, and bagatelles to his French female friends. All together his writings fill what will be forty-two volumes, each averaging about seven hundred pages, of which thirty-seven have already been published by the masterly editors of his papers at Yale University.

    In this book, I have assembled some of his most revealing, amusing and significant works. I tried to pick those that gave the best insight into Franklin’s personality and into his influence on the American character. I also chose a few of them, I must admit, simply because I found them delightful, and I want to convey what a fun (although complex) person Franklin was.

    I have presented the pieces chronologically, for the most part, because they thus provide an insight into the evolution of his own life and thinking. To put them in context, they are accompanied by short introductions or explanations that draw from the biography I wrote, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. One exception to the chronological order is the Autobiography. He wrote it in four installments, beginning in 1771 and ending in 1789 a year before his death, and I have included it all as one coherent narrative, as he intended, at the end of this volume.

    Franklin’s writings likewise flow together to give a narrative of both his own pilgrim’s progress and that of the new nation he helped to shape. He was the greatest inventor of his time, but the most interesting thing that he invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America’s first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.

    Partly it was a matter of image. As a young printer in Philadelphia, he carted rolls of paper through the streets to give the appearance of being industrious. As an old diplomat in France, he wore a fur cap to portray the role of backwoods sage. In between, he created an image for himself as a simple yet striving tradesman, assiduously honing the virtues—diligence, frugality, honesty—of a good shopkeeper and beneficent member of his community.

    But the image he created was rooted in truth. Born and bred a member of the leather-aproned class, Franklin was, at least for most of his life, more comfortable with artisans and thinkers than with the established elite, and he was allergic to the pomp and perks of a hereditary aristocracy. Throughout his life he would refer to himself, first and foremost, as a printer and writer. And it was through these crafts that he was able to influence, more than any of the other Founders, the character and personality of the American nation.

    Part 1

    The Young Apprentice

    Silence Dogood Introduces Herself

    Benjamin Franklin did not like being apprenticed to his older brother. I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me, Franklin later speculated, had the affect of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life. That was a bit unfair to poor James, whose newspaper in Boston, The New-England Courant, was the first feisty and independent publication in the colonies and taught young Benjamin how to be cheeky about establishment authority.

    Franklin knew that his brother would never knowingly print his pieces. So one night he invented a pseudonym, disguised his handwriting, and slipped an essay under the printing house door. His brother’s friends who gathered the next day lauded the anonymous submission, and Franklin had the exquisite pleasure of listening as they decided to feature it on the front page of the next issue.

    Silence Dogood was a slightly prudish widowed woman from a rural area, created by a spunky unmarried Boston teenager who had never spent a night outside of the city. Despite the uneven quality of the essays, Franklin’s ability to speak convincingly as a woman was remarkable, and it showed his appreciation for the female mind.

    By creating Mrs. Dogood, Franklin invented what became the quintessential genre of American folk humor: the wry and self-deprecating homespun character whose feigned innocence and naïveté is disarming but whose wicked little insights poke through the pretensions of the elite and the follies of everyday life.

    The echoes of Joseph Addison are apparent from the outset of the Silence Dogood essays. In Addison’s first Spectator essay, he wrote: I have observed, that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure ’till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor… Franklin likewise began his first Dogood essay by justifying an autobiographical introduction from his fictional narrator.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 1, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, APRIL 2, 1722

    Sir,

    It may not be improper in the first place to inform your readers, that I intend once a fortnight to present them, by the help of this paper, with a short epistle, which I presume will add somewhat to their entertainment.

    And since it is observed, that the generality of people, now a days, are unwilling either to commend or dispraise what they read, until they are in some measure informed who or what the author of it is, whether he be poor or rich, old or young, a scholar or a leather apron man, &c. And give their opinion of the performance, according to the knowledge which they have of the author’s circumstances, it may not be amiss to begin with a short account of my past life and present condition, that the reader may not be at a loss to judge whether or no my lucubrations are worth his reading.

    At the time of my birth, my parents were on ship-board in their way from London to n. England. My entrance into this troublesome world was attended with the death of my father, a misfortune, which though I was not then capable of knowing, I shall never be able to forget; for as he, poor man, stood upon the deck rejoicing at my birth, a merciless wave entered the ship, and in one moment carried him beyond reprieve. Thus, was the first day which I saw, the last that was seen by my father; and thus was my disconsolate mother at once made both a parent and a widow.

    When we arrived at Boston (which was not long after) I was put to nurse in a country place, at a small distance from the town, where I went to school, and past my infancy and childhood in vanity and idleness, until I was bound out as an apprentice, that I might no longer be a charge to my indigent mother, who was put to hard shifts for a living.

    My master was a country minister, a pious good-natured young man, and a bachelor: he labored with all his might to instill virtuous and godly principles into my tender soul, well knowing that it was the most suitable time to make deep and lasting impressions on the mind, while it was yet untainted with vice, free and unbiased. He endeavored that I might be instructed in all that knowledge and learning which is necessary for our sex, and denied me no accomplishment that could possibly be attained in a country place; such as all sorts of needle-work, writing, arithmetic, &c. And observing that I took a more than ordinary delight in reading ingenious books, he gave me the free use of his library, which though it was but small, yet it was well chose, to inform the understanding rightly, and enable the mind to frame great and noble ideas.

    Before I had lived quite two years with this reverend gentleman, my indulgent mother departed this life, leaving me as it were by my self, having no relation on earth within my knowledge.

    I will not abuse your patience with a tedious recital of all the frivolous accidents of my life, that happened from this time until I arrived to years of discretion, only inform you that I lived a cheerful country life, spending my leisure time either in some innocent diversion with the neighboring females, or in some shady retirement, with the best of company, books. Thus I past away the time with a mixture of profit and pleasure, having no affliction but what was imaginary, and created in my own fancy; as nothing is more common with us women, than to be grieving for nothing, when we have nothing else to grieve for.

    As I would not engross too much of your paper at once, I will defer the remainder of my story until my next letter; in the meantime desiring your readers to exercise their patience, and bear with my humors now and then, because I shall trouble them but seldom. I am not insensible of the impossibility of pleasing all, but I would not willingly displease any; and for those who will take offence where none is intended, they are beneath the notice of Your Humble Servant,

    Silence Dogood

    Silence Dogood On Courtship

    The Dogood essays exhibit a literary dexterity that was quite subtle for a 16-year-old boy. I am courteous and affable, good humored (unless I am first provoked) and handsome, and sometimes witty, Mrs. Dogood writes in the second one. The flick of the word sometimes is particularly deft, as is his jab at redundancy when he has her promise to write briefly, and in as few words as possible. In addition, Franklin imbued Mrs. Dogood with that aversion to arbitrary government and unlimited power that he helped to make part of the American character. Having lost her husband, a minister, she is now spending time with another minister, who is teaching her a few sentences of Latin and Greek so that she can toss them into her writings in a manner that will not only be fashionable, and pleasing to those who do not understand it, but will likewise be very ornamental.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 2, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, APRIL 16, 1722

    Sir,

    Histories of lives are seldom entertaining, unless they contain something either admirable or exemplar: and since there is little or nothing of this nature in my own adventures, I will not tire your readers with tedious particulars of no consequence, but will briefly, and in as few words as possible, relate the most material occurrences of my life, and according to my promise, confine all to this letter.

    My reverend master who had hitherto remained a bachelor (after much meditation on the eighteenth verse of the second chapter of Genesis), took up a resolution to marry; and having made several unsuccessful fruitless attempts on the more topping sort of our sex, and being tired with making troublesome journeys and visits to no purpose, he began unexpectedly to cast a loving eye upon me, whom he had brought up cleverly to his hand.

    There is certainly scarce any part of a man’s life in which he appears more silly and ridiculous, than when he makes his first onset in courtship. The awkward manner in which my master first discovered his intentions, made me, in spite of my reverence to his person, burst out into an unmannerly laughter: however, having asked his pardon, and with much ado composed my countenance, I promised him I would take his proposal into serious consideration, and speedily give him an answer.

    As he had been a great benefactor (and in a manner a father to me) I could not well deny his request, when I once perceived he was in earnest. Whether it was love, or gratitude, or pride, or all three that made me consent, I know not; but it is certain, he found it no hard matter, by the help of his rhetoric, to conquer my heart, and persuade me to marry him.

    This unexpected match was very astonishing to all the country round about, and served to furnish them with discourse for a long time after; some approving it, others disliking it, as they were led by their various fancies and inclinations.

    We lived happily together in the height of conjugal love and mutual endearments, for near seven years, in which time we added two likely girls and a boy to the family of the Dogoods: but alas! When my sun was in its meridian altitude, inexorable unrelenting death, as if he had envied my happiness and tranquility, and resolved to make me entirely miserable by the loss of so good an husband, hastened his flight to the heavenly world, by a sudden unexpected departure from this.

    I have now remained in a state of widowhood for several years, but it is a state I never much admired, and I am apt to fancy that I could be easily persuaded to marry again, provided I was sure of a good-humored, sober, agreeable companion: but one, even with these few good qualities, being hard to find, I have lately relinquished all thoughts of that nature.

    At present I pass away my leisure hours in conversation, either with my honest neighbor Rusticus and his family, or with the ingenious minister of our town, who now lodges at my house, and by whose assistance I intend now and then to beautify my writings with a sentence or two in the learned languages, which will not only be fashionable, and pleasing to those who do not understand it, but will likewise be very ornamental.

    I shall conclude this with my own character, which (one would think) I should be best able to give. Know then, that I am an enemy to vice, and a friend to virtue. I am one of an extensive charity, and a great forgiver of private injuries: a hearty lover of the clergy and all good men, and a mortal enemy to arbitrary government and unlimited power. I am naturally very jealous for the rights and liberties of my country; and the least appearance of an encroachment on those invaluable privileges, is apt to make my blood boil exceedingly. I have likewise a natural inclination to observe and reprove the faults of others, at which I have an excellent faculty. I speak this by way of warning to all such whose offences shall come under my cognizance, for I never intend to wrap my talent in a napkin. To be brief; I am courteous and affable, good humored (unless I am first provoked,) and handsome, and sometimes witty, but always, sir, your friend and humble servant,

    Silence Dogood

    Silence Dogood Attacks Harvard

    Of the fourteen Dogood essays that Franklin wrote between April and October of 1722, the one that stands out both as journalism and self-revelation is his attack on the college he never got to attend. Many of the classmates he had bested in grammar school had just entered Harvard, and Franklin could not refrain from poking fun at them. The form he used was an allegorical narrative cast as a dream, similar to that in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Addison had also used the form somewhat clumsily in an issue of The Spectator that Franklin had read, which recounted the dream of a banker about an allegorical virgin named Public Credit.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 4, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, MAY 14, 1722

    An sum etiam nunc vel Graec loqui vel Latin docendus?

    —Cicero

    Sir,

    Discoursing the other day at dinner with my reverend boarder, formerly mentioned, (whom for distinction sake we will call by the name of Clerics,) concerning the education of children, I asked his advice about my young son William, whether or no I had best bestow upon him academical learning, or (as our phrase is) bring him up at our college: he persuaded me to do it by all means, using many weighty arguments with me, and answering all the objections that I could form against it; telling me withal, that he did not doubt but that the lad would take his learning very well, and not idle away his time as too many there nowadays do. These words of Clericus gave me a curiosity to inquire a little more strictly into the present circumstances of that famous seminary of learning; but the information which he gave me, was neither pleasant, nor such as I expected.

    As soon as dinner was over, I took a solitary walk into my orchard, still ruminating on Clericus’s discourse with much consideration, until I came to my usual place of retirement under the great apple-tree; where having seated my self, and carelessly laid my head on a verdant bank, I fell by degrees into a soft and undisturbed slumber. My waking thoughts remained with me in my sleep, and before I awaked again, I dreamt the following dream.

    I fancied I was traveling over pleasant and delightful fields and meadows, and through many small country towns and villages; and as I passed along, all places resounded with the fame of the temple of learning: every peasant, who had wherewithal, was preparing to send one of his children at least to this famous place; and in this case most of them consulted their own purses instead of their children’s capacities: so that I observed, a great many, yea, the most part of those who were traveling thither, were little better than dunces and blockheads. Alas! Alas!

    At length I entered upon a spacious plain, in the midst of which was erected a large and stately edifice: it was to this that a great company of youths from all parts of the country were going; so stepping in among the crowd, I passed on with them, and presently arrived at the gate.

    The passage was kept by two sturdy porters named riches and poverty, and the latter obstinately refused to give entrance to any who had not first gained the favor of the former; so that I observed, many who came even to the very gate, were obliged to travel back again as ignorant as they came, for want of this necessary qualification. However, as a spectator I gained admittance, and with the rest entered directly into the temple.

    In the middle of the great hall stood a stately and magnificent throne, which was ascended to by two high and difficult steps. On the top of it sat learning in awful state; she was appareled wholly in black, and surrounded almost on every side with innuerable volumes in all languages. She seemed very busily employed in writing something on half a sheet of paper, and upon enquiry, I understood she was preparing a paper, called, The New-England Courant. On her right hand sat English, with a pleasant smiling countenance, and handsomely attired; and on her left were seated several antique figures with their faces veiled. I was considerably puzzled to guess who they were, until one informed me, (who stood beside me,) that those figures on her left hand were Latin, Greek, Hebrew, &c. And that they were very much reserved, and seldom or never unveiled their faces here, and then to few or none, though most of those who have in this place acquired so much learning as to distinguish them from English, pretended to an intimate acquaintance with them. I then enquired of him, what could be the reason why they continued veiled, in this place especially: he pointed to the foot of the throne, where I saw idleness, attended with ignorance, and these (he informed me) were they, who first veiled them, and still kept them so.

    Now I observed, that the whole tribe who entered into the temple with me, began to climb the throne; but the work proving troublesome and difficult to most of them, they withdrew their hands from the plow, and contented themselves to sit at the foot, with madam idleness and her maid ignorance, until those who were assisted by diligence and a docile temper, had well nigh got up the first step: but the time drawing nigh in which they could no way avoid ascending, they were fain to crave the assistance of those who had got up before them, and who, for the reward perhaps of a pint of milk, or a piece of plumb-cake, lent the lubbers a helping hand, and sat them in the eye of the world, upon a level with themselves.

    The other step being in the same manner ascended, and the usual ceremonies at an end, every beetle-scull seemed well satisfied with his own portion of learning, though perhaps he was even just as ignorant as ever. And now the time of their departure being come, they marched out of doors to make room for another company, who waited for entrance: and I, having seen all that was to be seen, quitted the hall likewise, and went to make my observations on those who were just gone out before me.

    Some I perceived took to merchandizing, others to traveling, some to one thing, some to another, and some to nothing; and many of them from henceforth, for want of patrimony, lived as poor as church mice, being unable to dig, and ashamed to beg, and to live by their wits it was impossible. But the most part of the crowd went along a large beaten path, which led to a temple at the further end of the plain, called, the temple of theology. The business of those who were employed in this temple being laborious and painful, I wondered exceedingly to see so many go towards it; but while I was pondering this matter in my mind, I spied pecunia behind a curtain, beckoning to them with her hand, which sight immediately satisfied me for whose sake it was, that a great part of them (I will not say all) traveled that road. In this temple I saw nothing worth mentioning, except the ambitious and fraudulent contrivances of Plagius, who (notwithstanding he had been severely reprehended for such practices before) was diligently transcribing some eloquent paragraphs out of Tillotson’s works, &c., to embellish his own.

    Now I bethought my self in my sleep, that it was time to be at home, and as I fancied I was traveling back thither, I reflected in my mind on the extreme folly of those parents, who, blind to their children’s dullness, and insensible of the solidity of their skulls, because they think their purses can afford it, will needs send them to the temple of learning, where, for want of a suitable genius, they learn little more than how to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a room genteelly, (which might as well be acquired at a dancing-school,) and from whence they return, after abundance of trouble and charge, as great blockheads as ever, only more proud and self-conceited.

    While I was in the midst of these unpleasant reflections, Clericus (who with a book in his hand was walking under the trees) accidentally awaked me; to him I related my dream with all its particulars, and he, without much study, presently interpreted it, assuring me, that it was a lively representation of Harvard college, etcetera. I remain, sir, your humble servant,

    Silence Dogood

    Silence Dogood’s Recipe for Poetry

    When he was in London, Franklin’s brother James saw how Grub Street balladeers would churn out odes and hawk them in the coffee-houses. So he had put Benjamin to work not only pushing type but also producing poetry. Young Benjamin wrote two works based on news stories, both dealing with the sea: one about a family killed in a boating accident, and the other about the killing of the pirate known as Blackbeard. They were, as Franklin recalled, wretched stuff, but they sold well, which flattered my vanity.

    Herman Melville would one day write that Franklin was everything but a poet. His father Josiah, no romantic, in fact preferred it that way, and he put an end to Benjamin’s versifying. My father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances and telling me verse-makers were generally beggars; so I escaped being a poet, most probably a very bad one. A year or so later, Silence Dogood lampooned the formula for poetry and eulogies in Boston.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 7, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, JUNE 25, 1722

    Give me the Muse, whose generous Force, Impatient of the Reins,

    Pursues an unattempted Course, Breaks all the Critic’s Iron Chains

    —Watts

    Sir,

    It has been the complaint of many ingenious foreigners, who have traveled amongst us, that good poetry is not to be expected in New England. I am apt to fancy, the reason is, not because our countrymen are altogether void of a poetical genius, nor yet because we have not those advantages of education which other countries have, but purely because we do not afford that praise and encouragement which is merited, when any thing extraordinary of this kind is produced among us: upon which consideration I have determined, when I meet with a good piece of New England poetry, to give it a suitable encomium, and thereby endeavor to discover to the world some of its beauties, in order to encourage the author to go on, and bless the world with more, and more excellent productions.

    There has lately appeared among us a most excellent piece of poetry, entitled, an elegy upon the much lamented death of Mrs. Mehitebell Kitel, wife of Mr. John Kitel of Salem, &c. It may justly be said in its praise, without flattery to the author, that it is the most extraordinary piece that ever was wrote in New England. The language is so soft and easy, the expression so moving and pathetic, but above all, the verse and numbers so charming and natural, that it is almost beyond comparison,

    The muse disdains those links and chains,

    Measures and rules of vulgar strains,

    And over the laws of harmony a sovereign queen she reigns.

    I find no English author, ancient or modern, whose elegies may be compared with this, in respect to the elegance of stile, or smoothness of rhyme; and for the affecting part, I will leave your readers to judge, if ever they read any lines, that would sooner make them draw their breath and sigh, if not shed tears, than these following.

    Come let us mourn, for we have lost a wife, a daughter, and a sister,

    who has lately taken flight, and greatly we have mist her.

    In another place,

    Some little time before she yielded up her breath, she said, I never shall hear one sermon more on earth. She kissed her husband some little time before she expired, then leaned her head the pillow on, just out of breath and tired.

    But the threefold appellation in the first line

    A wife, a daughter, and a sister,

    must not pass unobserved. That line in the celebrated Watts,

    Gunston the just, the generous, and the young,

    is nothing comparable to it. The latter only mentions three qualifications of one person who was deceased, which therefore could raise grief and compassion but for one. Whereas the former, (our most excellent poet) gives his reader a sort of an idea of the death of three persons, viz.

    A wife, a daughter, and a sister,

    which is three times as great a loss as the death of one, and consequently must raise three times as much grief and compassion in the reader.

    I should be very much straitened for room, if I should attempt to discover even half the excellencies of this elegy which are obvious to me. Yet I cannot omit one observation, which is, that the author has (to his honor) invented a new species of poetry, which wants a name, and was never before known. His muse scorns to be confined to the old measures and limits, or to observe the dull rules of critics;

    Nor Rapin gives her rules to fly, nor Purcell notes to sing.

    —Watts

    Now ’tis pity that such an excellent piece should not be dignified with a particular name; and seeing it cannot justly be called, either epic, Sapphic, lyric, or Pindaric, nor any other name yet invented, I presume it may, (in honor and remembrance of the dead) be called the kitelic. Thus much in the praise of kitelic poetry.

    It is certain, that those elegies which are of our own growth, (and our soil seldom produces any other sort of poetry) are by far the greatest part, wretchedly dull and ridiculous. Now since it is imagined by many, that our poets are honest, well-meaning fellows, who do their best, and that if they had but some instructions how to govern fancy with judgment, they would make indifferent good elegies; I shall here subjoin a receipt for that purpose, which was left me as a legacy, (among other valuable rarities) by my reverend husband. It is as follows,

    A recipe to make a New England funeral elegy.

    For the title of your elegy. Of these you may have enough ready made to your hands; but if you should choose to make it your self, you must be sure not to omit the words aetatis suae, which will beautify it exceedingly.

    For the subject of your elegy. Take one of your neighbors who has lately departed this life; it is no great matter at what age the party died, but it will be best if he went away suddenly, being killed, drowned, or froze to death.

    Having chose the person, take all his virtues, excellencies, &c. And if he have not enough, you may borrow some to make up a sufficient quantity: to these add his last words, dying expressions, &c. If they are to be had; mix all these together, and be sure you strain them well. Then season all with a handful or two of melancholy expressions, such as, dreadful, deadly, cruel cold death, unhappy fate, weeping eyes, &c. Have mixed all these ingredients well, put them into the empty scull of some young Harvard; (but in case you have neer a one at hand, you may use your own,) there let them ferment for the space of a fortnight, and by that time they will be incorporated into a body, which take out, and having prepared a sufficient quantity of double rhymes, such as, power, flower; quiver, shiver; grieve us, leave us; tell you, excel you; expeditions, physicians; fatigue him, intrigue him; &c. You must spread all upon paper, and if you can procure a scrap of Latin to put at the end, it will garnish it mightily; then having affixed your name at the bottom, with a moestus composuit, you will have an excellent elegy.

    N.B. This recipe will serve when a female is the subject of your elegy, provided you borrow a greater quantity of virtues, excellencies, &c. sir,

    Your servant, Silence Dogood

    Silence Dogood Attacks

    the Puritan Theocracy

    After his brother was jailed for three weeks for criticizing the authorities, Franklin used Mrs. Dogood to attack the link between church and state that was then the very foundation of Massachusetts government. At one point she asks, Whether a Commonwealth suffers more by hypocritical pretenders to religion or by the openly profane? Unsurprisingly, she concludes the former is worse, and she aims a barb at the governor, Thomas Dudley, a minister who had become a politician.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 9, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, JULY 23, 1722

    Corruptio optimi est pessima.

    Sir,

    It has been for some time a question with me, whether a commonwealth suffers more by hypocritical pretenders to religion, or by the openly profane? But some late thoughts of this nature, have inclined me to think, that the hypocrite is the most dangerous person of the two, especially if he sustains a post in the government, and we consider his conduct as it regards the public. The first artifice of a state hypocrite is, by a few savory expressions which cost him nothing, to betray the best men in his country into an opinion of his goodness; and if the country wherein he lives is noted for the purity of religion, he the more easily gains his end, and consequently may more justly be exposed and detested. A notoriously profane person in a private capacity, ruins himself, and perhaps forwards the destruction of a few of his equals; but a public hypocrite every day deceives his betters, and makes them the ignorant trumpeters of his supposed godliness: they take him for a saint, and pass him for one, without considering that they are (as it were) the instruments of public mischief out of conscience, and ruin their country for God’s sake.

    This political description of a hypocrite, may (for ought I know) be taken for a new doctrine by some of your readers; but let them consider, that a little religion, and a little honesty, goes a great way in courts. ’Tis not inconsistent with charity to distrust a religious man in power, though he may be a good man; he has many temptations to propagate public destruction for personal advantages and security: and if his natural temper be covetous, and his actions often contradict his pious discourse, we may with great reason conclude, that he has some other design in his religion besides barely getting to heaven. But the most dangerous hypocrite in a commonwealth, is one who leaves the gospel for the sake of the law: a man compounded of law and gospel, is able to cheat a whole country with his religion, and then destroy them under color of law: and here the clergy are in great danger of being deceived, and the people of being deceived by the clergy, until the monster arrives to such power and wealth, that he is out of the reach of both, and can oppress the people without their own blind assistance. And it is a sad observation, that when the people too late see their error, yet the clergy still persist in their encomiums on the hypocrite; and when he happens to die for the good of his country, without leaving behind him the memory of one good action, he shall be sure to have his funeral sermon stuffed with pious expressions which he dropt at such a time, and at such a place, and on such an occasion; than which nothing can be more prejudicial to the interest of religion, nor indeed to the memory of the person deceased. The reason of this blindness in the clergy is, because they are honorably supported (as they ought to be) by their people, and see nor feel nothing of the oppression which is obvious and burdensome to every one else.

    But this subject raises in me an indignation not to be born; and if we have had, or are like to have any instances of this nature in New England, we cannot better manifest our love to religion and the country, than by setting the deceivers in a true light, and undeceiving the deceived, however such discoveries may be represented by the ignorant or designing enemies of our peace and safety.

    I shall conclude with a paragraph or two from an ingenious political writer in the London Journal, the better to convince your readers, that public destruction may be easily carried on by hypocritical pretenders to religion.

    A raging passion for immoderate gain had made men universally and intensely hard-hearted: they were every where devouring one another. And yet the directors and their accomplices, who were the acting instruments of all this outrageous madness and mischief, set up for wonderful pious persons, while they were defying almighty god, and plundering men; and they set apart a fund of subscriptions for charitable uses; that is, they mercilessly made a whole people beggars, and charitably supported a few necessitous and worthless favorites. I doubt not, but if the villainy had gone on with success, they would have had their names handed down to posterity with encomiums; as the names of other public robbers have been! We have historians and ode makers now living, very proper for such a task. It is certain, that most people did, at one time, believe the directors to be great and worthy persons. And an honest country clergyman told me last summer, upon the road, that sir john was an excellent public-spirited person, for that he had beautified his chancel.

    Upon the whole we must not judge of one another by their best actions; since the worst men do some good, and all men make fine professions: but we must judge of men by the whole of their conduct, and the effects of it. Thorough honesty requires great and long proof, since many a man, long thought honest, has at length proved a knave. And it is from judging without proof, or false proof, that mankind continue unhappy. I am, sir, Your humble Servant,

    Silence Dogood

    Silence Dogood Proposes

    Civic Improvements

    Picking up on the ideas of Mather and Defoe for voluntary civic associations, Franklin devoted two of his Silence Dogood essays to the topic of relief for single women. For widows like herself, Mrs. Dogood proposes an insurance scheme funded by subscriptions from married couples. The next essay extends the idea to spinsters and cheekily notes that those who claim the money and then marry will have to repay it if they unduly brag about their husbands. In these essays, Franklin was being gently satirical rather than fully serious. But his interest in civic associations would later become more earnest when he became established as a young tradesman in Philadelphia.

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 10, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT,

    August 13, 1722

    Optim societas hominum servabitur.

    —Cicero

    Sir,

    Discoursing lately with an intimate friend of mine of the lamentable condition of widows, he put into my hands a book, wherein the ingenious author proposes (I think) a certain method for their relief. I have often thought of some such project for their benefit my self, and intended to communicate my thoughts to the public; but to prefer my own proposals to what follows, would be rather an argument of vanity in me than good will to the many hundreds of my fellow-sufferers now in New England…

    Suppose an office to be erected, to be called An Office Of Insurance For Widows, upon the following conditions:

    Two thousand women, or their husbands for them, enter their names into a register to be kept for that purpose, with the names, age, and trade of their husbands, with the place of their abode, paying at the time of their entering 5s. down with 1s. 4d. per quarter, which is to the setting up and support of an office with clerks, and all proper officers for the same; for there is no maintaining such without charge; they receive every one of them a certificate, sealed by the secretary of the office, and signed by the governors, for the articles hereafter mentioned.

    If any one of the women becomes a widow, at any time after six months from the date of her subscription, upon due notice given, and claim made at the office in form, as shall be directed, she shall receive within six months after such claim made, the sum of 500 in money, without any deductions, saving some small fees to the officers, which the trustees must settle, that they may be known.

    In consideration of this, every woman so subscribing, obliges her self to pay as often as any member of the society becomes a widow, the due proportion or share allotted to her to pay, towards the 500 for the said widow, provided her share does not exceed the sum of 5s.

    No seamen’s or soldiers’ wives to be accepted into such a proposal as this, on the account before mentioned, because the contingences of their lives are not equal to others, unless they will admit this general exception, supposing they do not die out of the kingdom.

    It might also be an exception, that if the widow that claimed had really, bona fide, left her by her husband to her own use, clear of all debts and legacies, 2000 she should have no claim; the intent being to aid the poor, not add to the rich. But there lies a great many objections against such an article: as

    It may tempt some to forswear themselves.

    People will order their wills so as to defraud the exception.

    One exception must be made; and that is, either very unequal matches, as when a woman of nineteen marries an old man of seventy; or women who have infirm husbands, I mean known and publicly so. To remedy which, two things are to be done.

    1. The office must have moving officers without doors, who shall inform themselves of such matters, and if any such circumstances appear, the office should have 14 days time to return their money, and declare their subscriptions void.

    2. No woman whose husband had any visible distemper, should claim under a year after her subscription.

    One grand objection against this proposal, is, how you will oblige people to pay either their subscription, or their quarteridge.

    To this I answer, by no compulsion (though that might be performed too) but altogether voluntary; only with this argument to move it, that if they do not continue their payments, they lose the benefit of their past contributions.

    I know it lies as a fair objection against such a project as this, that the number of claims are so uncertain, that no body knows what they engage in, when they subscribe, for so many may die annually out of two thousand, as may perhaps make my payment 20 or 25 per ann., and if a woman happen to pay that for twenty years, though she receives the 500 at last she is a great loser; but if she dies before her husband, she has lessened his estate considerably, and brought a great loss upon him.

    First, I say to this, that I would have such a proposal as this be so fair and easy, that if any person who had subscribed found the payments too high, and the claims fall too often, it should be at their liberty at any time, upon notice given, to be released and stand obliged no longer; and if so, volenti non fit injuria; every one knows best what their own circumstances will bear.

    In the next place, because death is a contingency, no man can directly calculate, and all that subscribe must take the hazard; yet that a prejudice against this notion may not be built on wrong grounds, let’s examine a little the probable hazard, and see how many shall die annually out of 2000 subscribers, accounting by the common proportion of burials, to the number of the living.

    Sir William Petty in his Political Arithmetick, by a very ingenious calculation, brings the account of burials in London, to be 1 in 40 annually, and proves it by all the proper rules of proportioned computation; and I’ll take my scheme from thence. If then one in forty of all the people in England should die, that supposes fifty to die every year out of our two thousand subscribers; and for a woman to contribute 5s. To every one, would certainly be to agree to pay 12 10s. per ann. upon her husband’s life, to receive 500 when he did, and lose it if she did first; and yet this would not be a hazard beyond reason too great for the gain.

    But I shall offer some reasons to prove this to be impossible in our case; first, Sir William Petty allows the city of London to contain about a million of people, and our yearly bill of mortality never yet amounted to 25,000 in the most sickly years we have had, plague years excepted, sometimes but to 20,000, which is but one in fifty: now it is to be considered here, that children and ancient people make up, one time with another, at least one third of our bills of mortality; and our assurances lies upon none but the middling age of the people, which is the only age wherein life is any thing steady; and if that be allowed, there cannot die by his computation, above one in eighty of such people, every year; but because I would be sure to leave room for casualty, I’ll allow one in fifty shall die out of our number subscribed.

    Secondly, it must be allowed, that our payments falling due only on the death of husbands, this one in fifty must not be reckoned upon the two thousand; for ’tis to be supposed at least as many women shall die as men, and then there is nothing to pay; so that one in fifty upon one thousand, is the most that I can suppose shall claim the contribution in a year, which is twenty claims a year at 5s. each, and is 5 per ann. And if a woman pays this for twenty years, and claims at last, she is gainer enough, and no extraordinary loser if she never claims at all: and I verily believe any office might undertake to demand at all adventures not above 6 per ann. and secure the subscriber 500 in case she come to claim as a widow.

    I would leave this to the consideration of all who are concerned for their own or their neighbor’s temporal happiness; and I am humbly of opinion, that the country is ripe for many such Friendly Societies, whereby every man might help another, without any disservice to himself. We have many charitable gentlemen who yearly give liberally to the poor, and where can they better bestow their charity than on those who become so by providence, and for ought they know on themselves. But above all, the clergy have the most need of coming into some such project as this. They as well as poor men (according to the proverb) generally abound in children; and how many clergymen in the country are forced to labor in their fields, to keep themselves in a condition above want? How then shall they be able to leave any thing to their forsaken, dejected, and almost forgotten wives and children. For my own part, I have nothing left to live on, but contentment and a few cows; and though I cannot expect to be relieved by this project, yet it would be no small satisfaction to me to see it put in practice for the benefit of others. I am, sir, &c.

    Silence Dogood

    SILENCE DOGOOD # 11, THE NEW-ENGLAND COURANT, August 20, 1722

    Neque licitum interea est meam amicam visere.

    Sir,

    From a natural compassion to my fellow creatures, I have sometimes been betrayed into tears at the sight of an object of charity, who by a bare relation of his circumstances, seemed to demand the assistance of those about him. The following petition represents in so lively a manner the forlorn state of a virgin well stricken in years and repentance, that I cannot forbear publishing it at this time, with some advice to the petitioner.

    To Mrs. Silence Dogood.

    The humble petition of Margaret Aftercast,

    Sheweth,

    1. That your petitioner being puffed up in her younger years with a numerous train of humble servants, had the vanity to think, that her extraordinary wit and beauty would continually recommend her to the esteem of the gallants; and therefore as soon as it came to be publicly known that any gentleman addressed her, he was immediately discarded.

    2. That several of your petitioners humble servants, who upon their being rejected by her, were, to all appearance in a dying condition, have since recovered their health, and been several years married, to the great surprise and grief of your petitioner, who parted with them upon no other conditions, but that they should die or run distracted for her, as several of them faithfully promised to do.

    3. That your petitioner finding her self disappointed in and neglected by her former adorers, and no new offers appearing for some years past, she has been industriously contracting acquaintance with several families in town and country, where any young gentlemen or widowers have resided, and endeavored to appear as conversable as possible before them: she has likewise been a strict observer of the fashion, and always appeared well dressed. And the better to restore her decayed beauty, she has consumed above fifty pounds worth of the most approved cosmetics. But all wont do.

    Your petitioner therefore most humbly prays, that you would be pleased to form a project for the relief of all those penitent mortals of the fair sex, that are like to be punished with their virginity until old age, for the pride and insolence of their youth.

    And your petitioner (as in duty bound) shall ever pray, &c.

    Margaret Aftercast

    Were I endowed with the faculty of match-making, it should be improved for the benefit of Mrs. Margaret, and others in her condition: but since my extreme modesty and taciturnity, forbids an attempt of this nature, I would advise them to relieve themselves in a method of friendly society; and that already published for widows, I conceive would be a very proper proposal for them, whereby every single woman, upon full proof given of her continuing a virgin for the space of eighteen years, (dating her virginity from the age of twelve,) should be entitled to 500 in ready cash.

    But then it will be necessary to make the following exceptions.

    1. That no woman shall be admitted into the society after she is twenty five years old, who has made a practice of entertaining and discarding humble servants, without sufficient reason for so doing, until she has manifested her repentance in writing under her hand.

    2. No member of the society who has declared before two credible witnesses, that it is well known she has refused several good offers since the time of her subscribing, shall be entitled to the 500 when she comes of age; that is to say, thirty years.

    3. No woman, who after claiming and receiving, has had the good fortune to marry, shall entertain any company with encomiums on her husband, above the space of one hour at a time, upon pain of returning one half the money into the office, for the first offence; and upon the second offence to return the remainder. I am, sir, your humble servant,

    Silence Dogood

    A Dissertation on Liberty

    and Necessity

    A year after he had run away to Philadelphia, Franklin traveled to London, where he worked for 18 months in two of the city’s best print shops. Among the books he helped to publish was an edition of William Wollaston’s The Religion of Nature Delineated, an Enlightenment tract which argued that religious truths were to be gleaned through the study of science and nature rather than through divine revelation. With the intellectual spunk that comes from being youthful and untutored, Franklin decided that Wollaston was right in general but wrong in parts, and he set out his own thinking in a piece in which he mixed theological premises with logical syllogisms to get himself quite tangled up. He inscribed it to his erstwhile friend James Ralph, who had absconded on some debts he owed him. The result was, as Franklin later conceded, so shallow and unconvincing as to be embarrassing. He printed a hundred copies, called it an erratum, and burned as many as he could retrieve.

    In his defense, philosophers greater and more mature than Franklin have, over the centuries, gotten lost when trying to sort out the question of free will and reconcile it with that of an all-knowing God. The primary value of his Dissertation lies in what it reveals about Franklin’s willingness to abandon Puritan theology.

    LONDON, 1725

    A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, &c. To Mr. J. R.

    Sir,

    I have here, according to your request, given you my present thoughts of the general state of things in the universe. Such as they are, you have them, and are welcome to them; and if they yield you any pleasure or satisfaction, I shall think my trouble sufficiently compensated. I know my scheme will be liable to many objections from a less discerning reader than your self; but it is not designed for those who can’t understand it. I need not give you any caution to distinguish the hypothetical parts of the argument from the conclusive: you will easily perceive what I design for demonstration, and what for probability only. The whole I leave entirely to you, and shall value my self more or less on this account, in proportion to your esteem and approbation.

    Sect. I. Of liberty and necessity.

    I. There is said to be a first mover, who is called god, maker of the universe.

    II. He is said to be all-wise, all-good, all powerful.

    These two propositions being allowed and asserted by people

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