Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

by Walter Isaacson

  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-DONATIEN 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). Ill
egitimate 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 Philadelphia 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.

  JAMES PARKER (ca. 1714–1770). New York printer, fled an apprenticeship with William Bradford, and Franklin set him up in New York as a printing partner, local postmaster, and then comptroller of the postal system. Franklin corresponded with him about a plan for union before the Albany Conference.

  JOHN PENN (1729–1785). Grandson of Pennsylvania founder William Penn. Served as his family’s governer there for most of 1763–76. Went with Franklin to Albany Conference in 1754, solicited Franklin’s help during Paxton Boys riots, but soon was a political foe over Proprietary rights and taxes.

  THOMAS PENN (1702–1775). Son of William and uncle of John Penn. Became, in 1746, the primary Proprietor of Pennsylvania, based in London with his brother Richard. One of Franklin’s foremost political enemies.

  RICHARD PETERS (ca. 1704–1776). Anglican clergyman. Came to Pennsylvania in 1734 as the right hand of the Penn family. Became one of Franklin’s adversaries even as they worked together building the Academy.

  JOSEPH PRIESTLEY (1733–1804). Theologian who turned to science. Met Franklin in 1765. Wrote a history of electricity (1767) that stressed Franklin’s work. Isolated oxygen and other gases.

  SIR JOHN PRINGLE (1707–1782). Physician who became Franklin’s close English friend and traveling companion.

  CATHERINE “CATY” RAY [GREENE] (1731–1794). Met Franklin on his 1754 trip to New England and became his first major young female flirtation. Married in 1758 to William Greene, who became governor of Rhode Island, but remained a friend of Franklin and his family. (She signed her name “Caty,” but Franklin tended to address her as “Katy” or “Katie.”)

  LOUIS-ALEXANDER, DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD (1743–1792). Scientist and nobleman. Translated the American state constitutions for publication in France at Franklin’s request. Stoned to death during the French Revolution.

  EARL OF SHELBURNE (1737–1805). English friend at whose house party Franklin did his oil-on-water trick. Later, colonial secretary and prime minister during Franklin’s 1782 British-American peace talks.

  JONATHAN SHIPLEY, BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH (1714–1788). Anglican bishop at whose house, Twyford, near Winchester, Franklin began his autobiography.

  WILLIAM SHIRLEY (1694–1771). London lawyer. Moved to Boston as governor of Massachusetts 1741–57 and briefly as commander of British troops. He and Franklin corresponded after the Albany Conference of 1754 on the shape an American colonial union should take.

  WILLIAM SMITH (1727–1803). English clergyman and writer. Recruited by Franklin in the early 1750s for the new Philadelphia Academy, where he was made provost. Became an ardent supporter of the Proprietors and bitterly split with Franklin.

  MA
RGARET STEVENSON (1706–1783). Franklin’s landlady on Craven Street, off the Strand, and occasional companion in London.

  MARY “POLLY” STEVENSON [HEWSON] (1739–1795). Mrs. Stevenson’s daughter. Longtime flirtatious young friend and intellectual companion to Franklin. Married in 1770 to medical researcher William Hewson. Widowed in1774. Visited Franklin in Passy in 1785. Moved to Philadelphia in 1786 to be at his deathbed.

  WILLIAM STRAHAN (1715–1785). London printer who became Franklin’s close friend via letters before even meeting him in person. Sent David Hall to be his partner. Franklin wrote but did not send a famous “you are my enemy” letter to him during the American Revolution, but they actually remained friends.

  CHARLES THOMSON (1729–1824). Irish-born teacher. Franklin gave him a job at the Philadelphia Academy and got him involved in Pennsylvania politics. Served as Franklin’s eyes and ears while Franklin was in London. Later became the secretary to Congress 1774–89.

  ANNE-ROBERT-JACQUES TURGOT (1727–1781). Economist, finance minister to Louis XVI, Franklin’s friend and occasional rival for the affections of Madame Helvétius. Wrote the famous epigram: Eripuit cœlo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis, He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants.

  BENJAMIN VAUGHAN (1751–1835). Diplomat and associate of Lord Shelburne. Compiled many of Franklin’s papers in 1779 and helped to negotiate with him the final peace treaties with Britain.

  LOUIS-GUILLAUME LE VEILLARD (1733–1794). Proprietor of a famed water spa. Franklin’s neighbor at Passy. Guillotined during the French Revolution.

  CHARLES GRAVIER, COMTE DE VERGENNES (1717–1787). French foreign minister 1774–87, with whom Franklin negotiated an alliance.

  THOMAS WALPOLE (1727–1803). British banker and MP, nephew of Prime Minister Robert Walpole. Formed with Franklin the Grand Ohio Co. to seek an American land grant and later speculated on stocks, using inside information from Edward Bancroft.