Franklin In Politics Benjamin Franklin example essay topic

Early Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He would be the tenth out of seventeen children that his father, Josiah Franklin, would have. His father had plans for Benjamin to join the clergy when he came of age and was sent to grammar school to prepare. He would excel in reading at a very young age but would find that he could not master math so easy.

He would be at the grammar school for less than a year before his father would come to terms with not being able to support a college education for Benjamin and supporting the rest of the large family. Benjamin would then be sent to another school which would teach him basic math and English skills. There, he would surpass the rest of class in English while eventually failing arithmetic yet again causing his father to pull him from school all together. At the age of 10 Benjamin would be taken home to learn the family business. While learning to make soap and candles from his father, Benjamin became restless; he yearned to go to sea much like his brother Josiah. He would go out the lake and play like the other children but Benjamin did not swim as well as the others, so he devised a tool that was made from sticks and cloth to cover his hands and feet to help him tread.

Swimming fins would be one of his first inventions. From a young age Benjamin proved to be very different from his father and the rest of his family. His father sensing his child's unhappiness would help him look for a new trade. Unbeknownst to Benjamin, watching the common man work would influence him down the path of inventor he would inevitably take, "He therefore sometimes took me to me to walk with him, and see joiners, bricklayers, braziers, etc. at their work, that he might observe my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade or other on land, and to construct little machines for my experiments, while the intention of making the experiments was fresh and warm in my mind". (p 12, Benjamin Franklin) His father would see his son was found of reading so an apprenticeship would be set up for twelve year old Benjamin with his twenty-one year old brother.

During his five year apprenticeship Franklin would live under strict guidelines which included taverns being off limits as well as gambling and marriage. Franklin would continue to long for the sea but found that while on land he would indeed prefer ink over the tallow of his father's shop. He would there self educate himself through reading as many books as he could when he wasn't printing. A long time customer of the printing shop would come to ask Franklin if he would like to run a private library.

There he fell in a deeper love with knowledge and studied arithmetic, navigation, grammar, and logic. He also was introduced to contemporary free-thinkers like Shaftesbury and Collins. Along with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Xenophon's Memorabilia one could see that Franklin was influenced by these men and would use their ideas and views to shape his own. The brothers Franklin would ruffle many feathers once they began to print their own pamphlets and papers against the ruling class.

Their satires while appealing the common man, made them enemies in high places. The Franklin's paper "The Courant" would be their biggest success and after the paper published a fake letter that stated there were pirates seen off the coast and that the Massachusetts government would be sending a ship after them the local council arrested James Franklin for contempt of authority. Benjamin would continue the paper in his brother's absence and would continue to voice his anger against his brother's arrest. "Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech; which is the right of every man as far as by it he does not hurt or control the tight of another; and this is the only check it out to suffer and the only bounds it ought to know... Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech: a thing terrible to public traitors". (p 28, Benjamin Franklin). Once James was out of prison, he and his brother continued on the same path which had already brought one of them to prison.

On January 14, 1723 a vigorous article lashed out against "hypocritical pretenders to religion" and those "who seem to be more than ordinary religious, but yet are several accounts worse, by far, than those who pretend to no religion at all". The states council would not let this go and immediately took action. They forbade James Franklin to print or publish his newspaper or any other pamphlet of the same nature unless it was first supervised by the Secretary of this Province. To avoid censure from the council the brothers decided that the paper would be printed in Benjamin's name. "The Courant" would be toned down as to not raise any more negative attention and now with Benjamin at the helm he would use his writing skills to stand for them same ideals the paper had before but would use more tact than his brother. The paper prospered under its more discrete policy and increased both circulation and price however the price of success would split the brothers.

At the age of seventeen Benjamin was known for his articles and writing abilities and would soon demand that his brother let him out of his apprenticeship so that they would be equal. His brother would disagree and soon the apprentice would leave the business in search of new work. Even though many would have gladly hired the accomplished publisher he had left an apprenticeship early without his master's approval, this would not sit well with the other Boston printers. James had spoken to them all before Benjamin and convinced them that "Masters must stand together even if brothers could not" (page 32). Due to his rash decision to leave and arrogance he now had no job and little money. He went to New York with no avail and finally wound up in Philadelphia where he would begin a new chapter in his life.

Benjamin Franklin Growing Up In Philadelphia Benjamin would find work and would feel for the first time true freedom. He would relish knowing that he would no longer have to admonish his father and let his older brother bully him around. He found much success and would freelance to many different printing shops. He then decided in 1724 to start his own printing shop. He would need more capital to start with so he returned to Boston to ask his father for a loan. Unfortunately, his father had not approved of Benjamin's action when he left his brother's apprenticeship.

He explained that while impressed by Benjamin's success he would not give his son the loan. He would return back to Philadelphia he had made friends with many people of power, including the Pennsylvania governor William Keith. Keith suggested buying his printing equipment in London and even offered to help get him started. Franklin headed of to London and awaited the Governor's letter of credit however it never came.

Franklin was now stuck in London and had little money. Stranded in London Franklin would begin to work for a printer name Samuel Palmer. There he would publish his first pamphlet, "A Dissertation Upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain". Soon after he went to work for John Watts, another printer, who had built himself a reputation for being one of the best in London.

Watts had impressed Franklin with his print shop's size and capabilities. With over 30 printing presses Franklin would work for Watts until 1724, when he decided that he missed Philadelphia. Getting there presented a problem, Franklin had spent much of his money on squaring debts to prepare for leaving London. Luckily Franklin knew a Quaker Merchant named Thomas Denham, who he had shared a cabin with when he had first came to London.

Denham, who had already made one fortune in Americ a, intended to make another, by starting a store in Philadelphia. He offered Franklin passage back to America and a job as his clerk at fifty pounds a year. Even though it meant Franklin would give up what he had become an expert at, he would take the job. His first year back in Philadelphia had not gone as he planned, by the end he was nearly penniless from multiple cash advancements which were twice as much as he was earning. Denham, dying after a long sickness forgave Franklin for the unpaid balance. Franklin would return to work as a printer and get control of his life back, unfortunately for him, it was a the cost of friend's life.

Franklin, wasting no time would help start a discussion group of especially intellectual young men called "Junto". This group would discuss all sorts of topics and found Franklin's ideas to be quite catching. Franklin made many friends who would help him down the road and during his career as a statesman. Just as Franklin's life was getting back to normal, he would be hit with a surprise, one of Franklin's many encounters with woman resulted in the birth of his illegitimate son William in 1728.

Rather than commit social suicide, Franklin chose to marry, not the mother mind you, to this day she has never been uncovered, but another woman who could raise William as her own. Eventually he would marry Deborah Read, the woman he had been courting on and off for several years. They were married with a quiet and fast as to not draw any negative attention on September 1st, 1730. Franklin in Politics Benjamin Franklin is synonymous with the words American Politics, from the Articles of Confederation to the Declaration of Independence, Franklin has helped guide America in the right direction until his death.

While the earlier part of his life was consumed by his love for printing, his later years would house his greatest achievements in the political world as well as his greatest fall. It all started in Pennsylvania where Franklin became a representative at the meeting with colonial representatives from New York where he proposed that the colonies should form their own government, levy their own taxes, and be their own authority. Even though it was rejected the idea still remained present and while there he had made several friends and contacts. Franklin would use his writings and personality to make his mark and even though the proposition failed he used the meeting to spread his thoughts and plant the seeds that for some, would work its way the succession from Britain. In 1757, he would be elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature where he continued to grow in popularity.

He would help found the "Philadelphia Contribution ship for Insuring Houses from Loss Against Fire", receive honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, and be appointed Postmaster of General of North America. Franklin's darkest hour would come in 1772 when the infamous " Hutchinson Letters Affair". The royal governor of Massachusetts was Thomas Hutchinson. He wrote several letters to the British government insisting on additional British troops to stop the growing rebellion. Franklin received the letter anonymously and shared them with some friends in Boston. Even though he did not want the letters to be published they were leaked to the Boston Gazette and all of Boston became angered.

Hutchinson had to flee America causing the British to go on a witch-hunt for the culprits. When innocent men were accused Franklin turned himself in to save them. Parliament was enraged and publicly reprimanded and humiliated Franklin. After months of hearings, testimony, and public ridicule he was found guilty. With his position of Post Master General lost and his reputation had been sincerely damaged he left England for America. Franklin had a bitter taste in his mouth after this experience and would never forget the way the country that he had served to help had turned their back on him.

He would head back to America and would soon begin to work for American Independence. Franklin was no stranger to using words so after he contributed his ideals to the Declaration of Independence the real work would have to be done. The Revolution would start out badly for the hopeful country and without the help of other countries, they would surely fail. To the rescue Franklin would search for allies. He traveled to Canada to enlist support but was only met with opposition. He would then go to France where he was already a celebrity and speak to the king himself.

He would receive significant loans and grants and even negotiated a Treaty of Alliance between France and the United States so that American troops could receive proper training. As Franklin had helped with the beginning of the war Franklin helped at the end by representing America during the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles which was signed September 3, 1783. During his Presidency of the Pennsylvania executive council, Franklin continued to stay active in American politics. In 1787, he was the chosen delegate to the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution, which made him the only person so sign all 3 major revolutionary documents. With the Revolution behind him he turned towards a new cause. At the age of 84 he started to take a stand against slavery.

He freed his own slaves and published an "Address to the Public" talking about the need to educate slaves and freemen so they could assimilate into American society. His thoughts were about 150 years too early. Due to his illness he could not pursue it as avidly as he had hoped. Just one year before his death he wrote several anti-slavery treaties and became President of the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Benjamin Franklin died April 17, 1790 and in his will he stated that the only way his son-in-law would get his inheritance would be if he let his slave go. Even in death Franklin managed to make another person's life better.

Ben Franklin the Inventor Benjamin Franklin's natural curiosity about things would lead to a life long legacy of inventions. Starting with the creation of swimming fins as a child, he would grow to invent some of the most used and well known objects in the history of the world. He is well known for the light bulb which single handed ly changed the world as well as the invention of bifocals, which allowed him to see both near and far without changing glasses. His interest in music would lead him to create a glass ar monica while he visited London in 1957.

He was quoted as saying, 'Of all my inventions, the glass ar monica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction. ' He was supposed to negotiating the release of Pennsylvania but seeing as how they wouldn't negotiate he had nothing better to do. His invention of the iron furnace stove allowed people to warm their homes less dangerously and with less wood. While he was postmaster he had to figure out routes for the mail to be delivered so invented a simple odometer an attached it to his carriage. He was the first man in America to design flexible urinary catheter, which ended being for his older brother when he had kidney stones. During one of his many trips to Europe he began to wonder why sailing to Europe took less time than going the other way.

His studies would eventually help him map the Gulf Stream. He successfully mapped the Gulf Stream flowing north from the West Indies to the East Coast of North America and back east across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. And with those Major inventions and many other lesser known treasures added to his contributions to American, French, and British politics as well as helping the common man, Benjamin Franklin would truly be remembered as not only a great American but a great human being.

Bibliography

All, Paul M., Franklin on Franklin. Published by the University Press of Kentucky. Copyright 2000 Doren, Carl Van, Benjamin Franklin.
Published by Penguin Group. Copyright 1938.