So, does Franklin deserve the accolade, accorded by his great contemporary David Hume, of America’s “first philosopher”? To some extent, he does. Disentangling morality from theology was an important achievement of the Enlightenment, and Franklin was its avatar in America. In addition, by relating morality to everyday human consequences, Franklin laid the foundation for the most influential of America’s homegrown philosophies, pragmatism. His moral and religious thinking, when judged in the context of his actions, writes James Campbell, “becomes a rich philosophical defense of service to advance the common good.” What it lacked in spiritual profundity, it made up for in practicality and potency.31
What about the charge that Franklin was too much of a compromiser instead of a heroic man of principle? Yes, he played both sides for a few years in the 1770s, when he was trying to mediate between England and America. Yes, he was somewhat squishy in dealing with the Stamp Act. He had taught himself as a young tradesman to avoid disputatious assertions, and his habit of benignly smiling while he listened to all sorts of people made him seem at times duplicitous or insinuating.
But once again, there’s something to be said for Franklin’s outlook, for his pragmatism and occasional willingness to compromise. He believed in having the humility to be open to different opinions. For him that was not merely a practical virtue, but a moral one as well. It was based on the tenet, so fundamental to most moral systems, that every individual deserves respect. During the Constitutional Convention, for example, he was willing to compromise some of his beliefs to play a critical role in the conciliation that produced a near-perfect document. It could not have been accomplished if the hall had contained only crusaders who stood on unwavering principle. Compromisers may not make great heroes, but they do make democracies.
More important, Franklin did in fact believe, uncompromisingly, in a few high principles—very important ones for shaping a new nation—that he stuck to throughout his life. Having learned from his brother a resistance to establishment power, he was ever unwavering in his opposition to arbitrary authority. That led him to be unflinching in opposing the unfair tax policies the Penns tried to impose, even when it would have served his personal advantage to go along. It also meant that, despite his desire to find a compromise with Britain during the 1770s, he adhered firmly to the principle that American citizens and their legislatures must not be treated as subservient.
Similarly, he helped to create, and came to symbolize, a new political order in which rights and power were based not on the happen-stance of heritage but on merit and virtue and hard work. He rose up the social ladder, from runaway apprentice to dining with kings, in a way that would become quintessentially American. But in doing so he resolutely resisted, as a matter of principle, sometimes to a fur-capped extreme, taking on elitist pretensions.
Franklin’s belief that he could best serve God by serving his fellow man may strike some as mundane, but it was in truth a worthy creed that he deeply believed and faithfully followed. He was remarkably versatile in this service. He devised legislatures and lightning rods, lotteries and lending libraries. He sought practical ways to make stoves less smoky and commonwealths less corrupt. He organized neighborhood constabularies and international alliances. He combined two types of lenses to create bifocals and two concepts of representation to foster the nation’s federal compromise. As his friend the French statesman Turgot said in his famous epigram, Eripuit cœlo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis, he snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants.
All of this made him the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become. Indeed, the roots of much of what distinguishes the nation can be found in Franklin: its cracker-barrel humor and wisdom; its technological ingenuity; its pluralistic tolerance; its ability to weave together individualism and community cooperation; its philosophical pragmatism; its celebration of meritocratic mobility; the idealistic streak ingrained in its foreign policy; and the Main Street (or Market Street) virtues that serve as the foundation for its civic values. He was egalitarian in what became the American sense: he approved of individuals making their way to wealth through diligence and talent, but opposed giving special privileges to people based on their birth.
His focus tended to be on how ordinary issues affect everyday lives, and on how ordinary people could build a better society. But that did not make him an ordinary man. Nor did it reflect a shallowness. On the contrary, his vision of how to build a new type of nation was both revolutionary and profound. Although he did not embody each and every transcendent or poetic ideal, he did embody the most practical and useful ones. That was his goal, and a worthy one it was.
Through it all, he trusted the hearts and minds of his fellow leather-aprons more than he did those of any inbred elite. He saw middle-class values as a source of social strength, not as something to be derided. His guiding principle was a “dislike of everything that tended to debase the spirit of the common people.” Few of his fellow founders felt this comfort with democracy so fully, and none so intuitively.
From the age of 21, when he first gathered his Junto, he held true to a fundamental ideal with unwavering and at times heroic fortitude: a faith in the wisdom of the common citizen that was manifest in an appreciation for democracy and an opposition to all forms of tyranny. It was a noble ideal, one that was transcendent and poetic in its own way.
And it turned out to be, as history proved, a practical and useful one as well.
Cast of Characters
JOHN ADAMS (1735–1826). Massachusetts patriot, second U.S. president. Worked with Franklin editing Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence and negotiating with Lord Howe in 1776. Arrived in Paris April 1778 to work with Franklin as commissioner, left March 1779, returned February 1780, left for Holland August 1780, returned for final peace talks with Britain October 1782.
WILLIAM ALLEN (1704–1780). Pennsylvania merchant and chief justice who was initially a friend but broke with Franklin by supporting the Proprietors.
BENJAMIN “BENNY” FRANKLIN BACHE (1769–1798). Son of Sally and Richard Bache, traveled to Paris with grandfather Franklin and cousin Temple in 1776, sent to school in Geneva, learned printing in Passy, set up by Franklin as a printer in Philadelphia, published antifederalist paper The American Aurora, arrested for libeling President John Adams. Died of yellow fever at 29.
RICHARD BACHE (1737–1811). Struggling merchant who married Franklin’s daughter, Sally, in 1767. They had seven children who survived infancy: Benjamin, William, Louis, Elizabeth, Deborah, Sarah, and Richard.
EDWARD BANCROFT (1745–1821). Massachusetts-born physician and stock speculator who met Franklin in London, became secretary to the American commission in France during the American Revolution, and turned out to be a British spy.
PIERRE-AUGUSTIN CARON DE BEAUMARCHAIS (1732–1799). Dramatic dramatist, stock speculator, and arms dealer. Helped arrange French aid to America during the Revolution and became a friend of Franklin’s in Passy. Wrote The Barber of Seville in 1775 and Figaro in 1784.
ANDREW BRADFORD (1686–1742). Philadelphia printer and publisher of American Weekly Mercury, became a competitor of Franklin’s and supported the Proprietary elite.
WILLIAM BRADFORD (1663–1752). Pioneering printer in New York whom Franklin met when running away from Boston and who introduced him to his son Andrew in Philadelphia.
ANNE-LOUISE BOIVIN D’HARDANCOURT BRILLON DE JOUY (1744–1824). Franklin’s neighbor in Passy, an accomplished harpsichordist who became one of Franklin’s favorite female friends. Wrote “Marche des Insurgents” to commemorate American victory at Saratoga.
WILLIAM PITT THE ELDER, EARL OF CHATHAM (1708–1778). As the “Great Commoner,” was prime minister during Seven Years’ War, 1756–63. Accepted peerage in 1766. Opposed repressive Tory measures. Negotiated with Franklin in early 1776, parking his carriage outside Mrs. Stevenson’s boarding house.
JACQUES-DO
NATIEN LE RAY DE CHAUMONT (1725–1803). Merchant, aspiring war profiteer, and former slave trader. Franklin’s landlord in Passy.
CADWALLADER COLDEN (1688–1776). New York politician and naturalist. Corresponded frequently with Franklin about experiments and science.
PETER COLLINSON (1694–1768). London merchant and scientist who helped Franklin set up the library and furnished him with electricity tracts and equipment.
MARIE-JEAN-ANTOINE-NICOLAS CARITAT, MARQUIS DE CONDORCET (1743–1794). Mathematician and biographer, contributor to Diderot’s Encyclopédie. Franklin’s close friend in Paris. Poisoned during the French Revolution.
SAMUEL COOPER (1725–1783). Boston politican and minister. An advocate of independence and close confidant of Franklin.
THOMAS CUSHING (1725–1788). Massachusetts politician and its speaker of the House 1766–74. A frequent correspondent of Franklin’s and the recipient of the Hutchinson letters.
SILAS DEANE (1737–1789). Connecticut diplomat and merchant. Went to France in July 1776, just before Franklin, to solicit support. Became an ally of Franklin’s but antagonized Arthur Lee, who accused him of corruption and helped to force his recall.
WILLIAM DENNY (1709–1765). British army officer who was the Penns’ appointed governor 1756–59.
FRANCIS DASHWOOD, BARON LE DESPENCER (1708–1781). British politician and, from 1766 to 1781, the postmaster who protected and then had to fire his friend Franklin as the deputy postmaster for America. At his country house, Franklin had the pleasure of hearing his hoax “An Edict from the King of Prussia” fool people.
JOHN DICKINSON (1732–1808). Philadelphia politician who opposed Franklin in the fight with the Proprietors and was more cautious about independence. Wrote “Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer,” which Franklin (not knowing who was the author) helped publish in London.
JOHN FOTHERGILL (1712–1780). Quaker physician in London. Published Franklin’s electricity papers in 1751 and served as his doctor in England. “I can hardly conceive that a better man has ever lived,” Franklin once said.
ABIAH FOLGER FRANKLIN (1667–1752). Married Josiah Franklin in 1689 and had ten children, including Benjamin.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN “THE ELDER” (1650–1727). The brother of Franklin’s father Josiah. Encouraged his nephew (unsuccessfully) in poetry and preaching and came to live in Boston in 1715 as a retired widower.
DEBORAH READ FRANKLIN (1705?–1774). Franklin’s loyal, common-law wife. May have been born in Birmingham, but was raised on Market Street in Philadelphia and never left that neighborhood for the rest of her life. First saw Franklin in October 1723 when he straggled off the boat into Philadelphia. Married John Rogers, who abandoned her. Entered common-law union with Franklin in 1730. Served as bookkeeper and manager of print shop. Defended home during Stamp Act riots. Two children: Francis “Franky,” who died at age 4, and Sarah “Sally,” who in many ways resembled her.
JAMES FRANKLIN (1697–1735). Franklin’s brother and early master. Started New England Courant in 1721 and was a pioneer in provocative American journalism.
JANE FRANKLIN [MECOM] (1712–1794). Franklin’s youngest sister and favorite sibling.
JOHN FRANKLIN (1690–1756). Franklin’s brother. Became a soap and candle maker in Rhode Island and then (with Franklin’s help) the postmaster in Boston. Franklin made a flexible catheter for him.
JOSIAH FRANKLIN (1657–1745). A silk dyer born in Ecton, England. Emigrated to America in 1683, where he became a candle maker. Had seven children by his first wife, Anne Child, and ten (inluding Benjamin Franklin) by his second wife, Abiah Folger Franklin.
SARAH “SALLY” FRANKLIN [BACHE] (1743–1808). Loyal only daughter. Married Richard Bache in 1767. Served as hostess and homemaker when Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1776 and 1785. Like her mother, she never traveled to Europe with him, but she did travel to Boston with him in 1763.
[WILLIAM] TEMPLE FRANKLIN (ca. 1760–1823). Illegitimate son of William Franklin. Grandfather helped to raise and educate him, brought him back to America in 1775, took him to Paris in 1776, retained his loyalty in struggle with the boy’s father. Had his own illegitimate children. Published a haphazard collection of his gandfather’s writings.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN (ca. 1730–1813). Illegitimate son raised by Franklin. Accompanied him to England, became a Tory sympathizer, appointed royal governor of New Jersey, remained loyal to the Crown, and irrevocably split with his father.
JOSEPH GALLOWAY (ca. 1731–1803). Philadelphia politician and long-time ally of Franklin in fight with the Proprietors. His home, Trevose, was the site of a tense meeting between Franklin and his son. Remained loyal to the Crown and split with Franklin during the Revolution.
DAVID HALL (1714–1772). Recommended by William Strahan, moved from London in 1744 to become Franklin’s shop foreman and in 1748 took over running the business as managing partner.
ANDREW HAMILTON (ca. 1676–1741). Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly for much of the 1730s. Defended John Peter Zenger in his libel trial and usually supported Franklin.
JAMES HAMILTON (1710–1783). Andrew’s son. Governor of Pennsylvania 1748–54 and 1759–63. As a Mason, trustee of the Library Company and the Academy, he was Franklin’s friend, but they were often politically opposed.
ANNE-CATHERINE DE LIGNIVILLE HELVÉTIUS (1719–1800). Franklin’s close friend in Auteuil, near Passy. Franklin proposed marriage, more than half-seriously, in 1780. Widowed in 1771 from noted philosopher and wealthy farmer-general Claude-Adrien Helvétius.
LORD RICHARD HOWE (1726–1799). British admiral. Joined the Royal Navy at age 14 and became commander in America. First negotiated with Franklin secretly under cover of chess games at his sister’s in late 1775. Met Franklin and Adams on Staten Island in September 1776.
WILLIAM HOWE (1729–1814). Younger brother of Admiral Lord Richard Howe. Fought in the French and Indian War and then the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1775, replaced General Thomas Gage as the commander of British land troops in the colonies, serving under the overall command of his brother. Became Viscount Howe in 1799.
DAVID HUME (1711–1776). Scottish historian and philosopher. With Locke and Berkeley, one of the greatest British empirical analysts. Franklin befriended him in London and visited him in Edinburgh in 1759 and 1771.
THOMAS HUTCHINSON (1711–1780). Originally a friend of Franklin’s and an ally at the Albany Conference of 1754. Became royal governor of Massachusetts in 1771. House burned during Stamp Act crisis, and Franklin wrote him sympathetically. But in 1773, Franklin got hold of some of his letters and sent them to allies in Massachusetts, which caused Franklin to face a grilling by British ministers in the Cockpit.
HENRY HOME, LORD KAMES (1696–1782). Scottish judge and moral philosopher, with interests in farming and science and history, whom Franklin first met on his 1759 trip to Scotland.
SAMUEL KEIMER (ca. 1688–1742). London printer. Moved to Philadelphia in 1722 and gave Franklin his first job there the following year. Franklin had a stormy relationship with him and became his competitor; Keimer left for Barbados in 1730.
SIR WILLIAM KEITH (1680–1749). Governor of Pennsylvania 1717–26. Became an unreliable patron to Franklin in 1724 and sent him to London without a letter of credit he had promised. Keith was fired when he defied the Proprietors. Eventually imprisoned as a debtor in the Old Bailey, where he died.
ARTHUR LEE (1740–1792). Virginia politician and diplomat. Began his personal opposition to Franklin while both were in London in late 1760s. His disputes with Franklin intensified when both were commissioners in Paris in 1777. Remained a Franklin foe along with his powerful brothers: William, Richard Henry, and Francis Lightfoot Lee.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LE ROY (1720–1800). French scientist. Shared Franklin’s interest in electricity and became his close friend in Paris.
ROBERT LIVINGSTON (1746–1813). New York statesman, foreign secretary of the United States 1781–83.
JAMES LOGAN (1674–1751). Prominent Philadelphi
a Quaker and gentleman, whom Franklin befriended as an adviser to the library.
COTTON MATHER (1663–1728). Prominent Puritan clergyman and famed witch-hunter. Succeeded his father, Increase Mather, as pastor of Boston’s Old North Church. His writings inspired Franklin’s civic projects.
HUGH MEREDITH (ca. 1697–ca. 1749). Printer at Keimer’s shop. Became a member of Franklin’s Junto and then his first partner in 1728. But when he resumed drinking, Franklin bought him out in 1730, and he left for North Carolina.
ABBÉ ANDRÉ MORELLET (1727–1819). Economist, contributor to the Encyclopédie, and lover of wine. Met Franklin in 1772 at Lord Shelburne house party, where Franklin did his trick stilling waves with oil. Part of Madame Helvétius’s circle.
ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS (ca. 1700–1764). The Penns’ governor in Pennsylvania 1754–56. Fought with Franklin over taxing the Proprietors’ estates. Son of New Jersey governor Lewis Morris.
JEAN-ANTOINE NOLLET (1700–1770). French scientist and electrician. Jealous opponent of Franklin’s theories.
ISAAC NORRIS (1701–1766). Philadelphia merchant, speaker of the Assembly 1750–64; allied with Franklin in opposition to the Proprietors.
THOMAS PAINE (1737–1809). Failed corset-maker and a tax clerk in England. Charmed Franklin, who provided a letter of introduction to Richard Bache, which led to a job as a journalist and printer in Philadelphia. Wrote Common Sense in January 1776, which paved the way for the Declaration of Independence. Wrote The Age of Reason, but delayed publishing it until 1794, perhaps after Franklin warned that people would find it heretical.
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