FREE ESSAY ON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Benjamin Franklin, Printer
Benjamin Franklin is unmistakably the most resplendent figure in American history.
Starting out as an apprentice, Franklin was to become a renowned printer, a great
statesman, and an innovator always trying to find ways to improve his community. But how
could this peasant apprentice become such an influential man in a large-scale society
such as Philadelphia? This was the question that baffled and worried many aristocrats of
the early eighteenth century. For Franklin was to become a household name and soon an
inspiration to all that sought freedom from the wont class system. Franklin symbolized
the classic cliche of rags to riches vividly throughout his lifetime. His resilience and
genius truly gave America a rebirth in the right direction. However, unlike many other
success stories he always managed to keep his attitude in perspective and on his goals.
Franklin personally attributed his success to frugality and common sense (Looby 25). 
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the youngest boy of a
very traditional family of seventeen (Franklin 4). Franklin's family was so set on
customs that his father made him sign his life away as an indentured servant at the age
of only ten (Locke 2316). Luckily for young Franklin his master was his older brother
James who owned a printing press. Franklin loved the fact that he had access to books and
news. As a boy with only two years of schooling, Franklin soon began to educate himself
by reading and imitating different books and essays (Doren 17). While studying his
English prose, Franklin came across a remarkable piece of work by John Locke entitled
Essay Concerning Human Understanding. And according to biographer Carl Van Doren, "It
shaped his own ideas and strengthened the values he would live by" (17). The bookish
atmosphere of the printing house and the constant talk and criticism that went on among
his brother's peers, was an excellent school for his eager mind (Culver 4630). This was
to be the foundation of Benjamin Franklin's education.
In 1721, Franklin's brother decided to publish a newspaper called The New England Courant
(Doreen 19). The paper was but a single sheet printed on both sides. There were already
two newspapers to compete with in town, so Franklin's brother James decided to spice up
his newspaper by printing sensational controversies. So unlike the other two newspapers,
The Courant was now open to the public by means of a commentary section (Meltzer 44).
Many individuals in the area would drop off letters anonymously with hopes of them being
published. Soon the newspaper's commentary section was receiving a tremendous response,
so young Franklin decided to get involved in this newfound public journalism. Franklin
secretly wrote letters under the alias of Mrs. Dogood knowing that if his brother found
out the letters would not be printed (Crane 11). He secretly slipped the first letter
under the door, at the age of only sixteen. Author Verner Crane believes that this hidden
secret was "Perhaps a means by which to use his pen to free himself of always being
looked down upon as merely a boy and an apprentice"(10). His brother James along with the
rest of the readers loved the letters. Mrs. Dogood was a delicious change from what the
Bostonians were use to. Franklin put his own thoughts into her mouth and sprinkled her
speech with generous quotations from Defoe and Cicero (Meltzer 46). Mrs. Dogood made fun
of religious hypocrites, the town drunks, and women's hoop petticoats (46). However, the
letters also advocated political views, such as freedom of speech, insurance for widows,
and asked why girls should not be educated as much as boys. Needless to say the
controversies flared sales. But after a total of fourteen letters, young Franklin ran dry
and confessed to his brother James. Instead of being pleased with his younger brother's
talent, James was very annoyed (47). He made it clear that he was the master, and
Franklin was still his apprentice. James did not care that Franklin's writings were
attracting new customers who ordinarily did not bother to read. Young Franklin's letters
were both poetic and interesting, with excellent grammar. However none of this mattered
to James, and he often beat young Franklin to get his point across. It was here that the
cruel realization of servitude manifested itself to a young Benjamin Franklin.
James kept writing scandalous stories and eventually ended up in jail for offending the
Governor. During his time in prison, young Franklin took over the paper (Crane 11). James
was getting too much heat for his writings, so he decided to break Franklin's indenture
as a cover-up. Franklin was named editor, so James could retain his freedom of speech.
However a secret indenture was drawn to insure young Franklin would stay. But after their
next quarrel Franklin decided to leave anyhow. He knew his brother would not dare reveal
"the secret indenture" (14). After seven years of service as an apprentice Franklin
finally found a clever way to escape his servitude. Out of rage, James made sure young
Franklin would not find work in Boston. So Franklin had no other choice but to leave in
search of a new home. 
After a three-day voyage, a courageous young Franklin arrived in New York. He describes
himself in his autobiography as, "a boy of only seventeen, without the least
recommendation to or knowledge of any person in the place, and with very little money in
my pockets (32). Franklin was unsuccessful in obtaining a job in New York. But luckily, a
man named William Bradford directed Franklin to his son's shop in Philadelphia (Adler
22). Franklin found no work in Andrew Bradford's shop, but Andrew did direct him to a new
shop owned by Samuel Kiemer (23). He was hired immediately by Kiemer. Franklin was now
his own person; no longer was he anybody's servant. His worst days were now behind him
and a prosperous future was awaiting him in his new home of Philadelphia. 
The English Quaker, William Penn founded the Philadelphia colony. Penn had provided for
tolerance of all religions, for free education, for the election of representatives, and
for jury trial in open court (Meltzer 54). Franklin quickly realized that he was in a
much freer society than Boston. Philadelphia was considered an asylum for the persecuted
and a happy place for craftsmen, traders, shopkeepers, and homesteaders' (55). In
essence, this was the perfect place for a self-educated peasant (like Franklin) to make
something of himself. It did not take long before Benjamin Franklin fell in love with
Philadelphia. 
It took Benjamin Franklin only six years to establish himself as printer and to open his
own shop. Besides Franklin's outstanding work as a printer, he is also recognized for
being a remarkable entrepreneur. You see in addition to opening his print shop, Franklin
also opened a general shop and began selling supplies of many kinds: such as paper, ink,
maps, lampblack, tea, groceries, lottery tickets an much more (Meltzer 69). This was
clever of Franklin, because he would advertise his products in his paper and vice versa.
According to author Jake Edens, "Franklin bought the Pennsylvania Gazette which he edited
and printed so ably that he soon became known through all the colonies." So once again,
Franklin found himself at the center of the town's attention: just as he had with the
Mrs. Dogood letters back in Boston. However, this time Franklin did not want to start
controversies; instead, he wanted to build solidarity. As Franklin's success rapidly grew
he slowly started to play a very influential role in society.
Franklin's influence started with the enhancement of the common almanac. Almanacs were
every printer's staple product. Everyone in colonial times was familiar with
almanac-books containing calendars, astronomical data, statistics, charts, tables,
holidays, festivals, weather forecasting, and scrapes of facts about anything the editor
hopes the reader will like. So in 1732, only three years after Franklin had launched his
newspaper, he concocted Poor Richard's Almanac (87). And once again, Franklin decided to
use a pseudonym in order to remain anonymous. Hence, Richard Saunders "Philomath" is
created by Franklin and predestined to write his almanac. 
Benjamin Franklin's almanac was a tremendous success; no other book in the colonies sold
more copies, except the Bible (Doren 148). With success comes recognition and Franklin
was most certainly recognized within the colonies. Year after year, Franklin packed the
almanac with his sayings and rearranged proverbs. Franklin's Biographer Milton Meltzer
says, "Franklin was adept at taking other peoples lines and giving them a wry twist that
enhanced their flavor and drove home their meaning (90). For instance, an old proverb
goes "God restorth health and physicians hath the thanks". Franklin wrote this as "God
heals and the doctor takes the fee" (90). However, the majority of Franklin's sayings
were original; such as "a penny saved is a penny earned", or "It is hard for an empty
sack to stand upright" (Doren 160). The almanac was to run for twenty-five years, earning
Benjamin Franklin the tittle "Father of Common Sense" among his contemporaries (Crane
55). 
The success of the almanac helped establish a good reputation for Franklin. People
started to look at Franklin as a role model and above all as a symbol of America's
opportunities. This trust proved to be priceless in Franklin's political endeavors. His
political exertions within the founding of the United States of America were clearly
unmatched by any politician. This can easily be proven by the fact that he is the only
man who signed all four key documents in American History: the Declaration of
Independence, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, the Treaty of Alliance with France,
and the Constitution of the United States (Eiselen 412). Franklin was by far the most
influential man in the colonies; he was a natural leader fulfilled with original ideas.
However, Franklin was not content with the fact that he was wealthy and successful; he
wanted to give back to the community. According to author Helen Augur, "Franklin's motto
was to improve himself through improving his community" (77). 
Benjamin Franklin did a lot toward improving the Philadelphian community and soon the
entire nation. In 1727, Franklin started the Junto Club as a collective effort at
self-improvement (Doren 74). The Junto Club was like a modern day "salon" in which
intellects could discuss everyday problems. One of the club's most impressive feats was
the commencement of the first circulating library in America, an idea that was soon
copied throughout the colonies (Meltzer 96). This was vintage Franklin, for he always
knew how to take everyday problems and solve them. For example, one of the first
challenges he undertook was the paving of the streets. Everyone in Philadelphia knew that
the roads were dangerous and a nuisance, but no one ever took action, until Franklin came
along. He would first discuss the problem at hand with his friends at the Junto Club, and
if they all seemed to agree, Franklin would take it a step further and publish it in his
newspaper (Meltzer 98). If he noticed he had the public's solidarity, he would take it
yet another step further by printing pamphlets and distributing them door to door (99).
This finally put enough pressure on the establishment to do something and soon all the
streets began to get paved. Franklin's perseverance and influence had won him a victory.
This must have had a tremendous psychological effect on Franklin, for shortly there
after, he began to tackle many issues by taking the same steps as noted before. With this
persistence Franklin helped to establish a fire department, a police department, and the
University of Pennsylvania (103). 
In addition to Franklin's many victories for the community in general, he also helped to
establish a militia for the protection of the establishment itself (Doren 88). As
previously mentioned the Philadelphia colony was established and ran by Quakers-who
because of religious reasons and values absolutely refused to take arms. This philosophy
had helped keep the community safe hitherto. However, in 1747 there was a serious threat
of invasion by the natives, so Franklin sprang into action. He rushed a pamphlet to the
press and soon received the support from the Governor of Philadelphia (Meltzer 106). In a
matter of days over ten thousand men volunteered for the militia (107). The troops
brought their own arms and drilled themselves over and over. Fortunately for the
community the invasion never took place, however, the men where glad to know that they
would have been ready. Being the only man to take charge during the communities' time of
crisis, Franklin now received a whole new sort of respect from his contemporaries. 
In 1748, after much deliberation Franklin decided to retire from the printing business.
He was only forty-two years old, but very wealthy and well respected. But even in
retirement, Franklin still continued to contribute to society. He became very intrigued
by the chaotic spelling conventions of the English language, and typically enough,
proposed its reform. In 1768, Franklin published a paper entitled A Scheme for the New
Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling (McCrum 227). And even though the reform was
never adopted, it still had a profound influence on many scholars including America's
great lexicographer, Noah Webster (228). However, this was not the first time Franklin
had contributed to the English language, for it is undeniable that his newspaper
editorials helped enrich the vocabulary of the early settlers.
Benjamin Franklin died in 1790 at the age of eighty-four. Having lived a life full of
progress and commitment to his community. Franklin repeatedly stressed the importance of
frugality in one's life in order to be truly happy. Many would agree that this is easy to
say after your wealthy and successful, however, Franklin was the kind of man who would
give it all up for a cause he believed in. He proved this on the eve of the American
Revolution, when the famous "Boston Tea Party" took place. Can you believe Franklin
actually offered to repay Britain for the cost of the tea? According to Biographer Verner
Crane this is exactly what Benjamin Franklin did to try to prevent the colonies from
going to war (90). If Britain would have accepted Franklin's offer this would have
bankrupted him. Franklin was always looking out for his fellow settler. Ironically, when
the drums of war were beating it was Franklin's call to arms-during the threat of the
invasion-that guided the colonies to victory. After the revolution, Franklin wanted
nothing more then to ensure the success of the future nation. By helping to create and
advocate important documents like the Constitution and the Treaty with England, Franklin
did ensure the lasting success of the Republic. His obsession to educate every settler
truly had a significant contribution to the well being of our nation today. Even though,
Franklin was a very multi-talented individual the only thing he wanted inscribed on his
tombstone was "Benjamin Franklin, printer"(Eiselen 416). For this was the key to
advocating all of his ideas. I believe Franklin would be proud to know that he is still
being printed everyday on the face of the United States highest circulating currency
bill, the hundred-dollar bill. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Adler, David. Benjamin Franklin: Printer, Inventor, and Statesman. New York: 
Holiday Press, 1992.
Augur, Helen. The Secret War of Independence. New York: Brown, 1979.
Crane, Verner. Benjamin Franklin and a Rising People. ed. by Oscar Handlin. 
Boston: Brown, 1979. 
Doren, Van Carl. Benjamin Franklin. New York: Viking, 1938.
Edens, Jake. "Benjamin Franklin." The World Book. 1928 ed. 
Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Spencer
Press, 1938.
Locke, William. "Benjamin Franklin." The Book of Knowledge. 1954 ed.
Looby, Chris. Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1990.
McCrum, Robert, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil. The Story of English. Rev.
ed. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Meltzer, Milton. Benjamin Franklin: The New American. New York: Franklin 
Watts, 1988.