Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Other Writings

[RamistThomist]

Signet classics.

In this volume is the “essence of America.” Franklin is thrifty and hence, successful. Religious but not dogmatic. Concerned with virtue, yet seeing no contradiction in consorting with women of low repute. Throughout this book is practical wisdom--and despite Franklin’s own contradictions, much is worth considering.

On writing

Try not to use the word “seem” in your didactic writing. Say what you mean. Franklin writes, “I wish well-meaning and sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us” (Franklin 31).

On Religion

He became a Deist by reading books against Deism (69ff). He was enthralled with “doing good” and “ethics,” yet this didn’t stop him from consorting with red-light girls. He writes, “In the meantime that hard-to-be-governed passion of youth (note: in the context of delaying marriage) had hurried me frequently into intrigues with low women that fell in my way, which were attended with some expense and great inconvenience, besides a continual risk to my health by a distemper, which of all things I dreaded, though’ by great good luck I escaped it” (80).

For all his Deism, Franklin wasn’t your modern-day ACLU skeptic. While he didn’t believe in a state church, he didn’t believe all religions are equal. Christianity should have pride of place. Further, he didn’t believe in attacking religion.

On Languages

He taught himself French and Italian. He had only one year of Latin as a child and neglected it. He was able to pick it back up later in life. He says it is more useful to begin with something like French than Latin (111).

His life ended with a whimper. He was away for long periods of time from his wife, and was in Europe at the time of her death. He died estranged from his son. While his letters are mute on whether he was indiscreet, he did carry on several (relatively) Platonic dalliances with women young enough to be his daughters.

 

[Logan]

I'm not sure I would agree that his life ended with a whimper. It is true he was estranged from his son (who was a Loyalist and did not support the Revolution) but more because of political ties than anything relationally. I would say he was pretty close to his daughter's family, the Baches, and with William's son Temple. He was well-beloved by all with famous visitors coming to see him regularly, and members of the new government regularly seeking his advice.

In his final illness, when his daughter said she was confident he would recover he replied "I hope not." And yes, for all his deism there were definitely some glimmers of a faith that there was a Providence guiding all things and all affairs of men, although he never professed faith in Christ as far as I am aware of and had a very pragmatic approach to religion as in everything else.

He had a remarkable way of looking at the world and was a true Renaissance man. A man of letters, science, engineering, politics, soldiering. Whenever he heard of something interesting, he would ask "why"? and pursue it.

He deduced that different colors might absorb more or less energy from the sun and put different patches of cloth on the snow and measured how far each had sunk into the snow over the course of the day, ending with the practical recommendation of wearing white clothing in very sunny weather.

When he heard that canal travel was slower when the water was lower, he postulated a reason why and built a model canal to experiment with.

When seeing a performer making music with wine glasses with liquid at different levels, he got a glass blower to make him many different sized bowls and then put them on a rotating spindle to invent the "armonica" (look it up on Youtube), which was popular in Europe for a short time, including compositions by Mozart.

A great many of the electrical terms we use today (charge, positive, negative, current, flow) were done by him and he was widely recognized in the scientific community for his contributions toward electrical science.

He organized the volunteer fire department, had plans for keeping streets clean, initiated a reliable postal service...the list goes on and on. But the thing I find most remarkable is how well he understood people and yet did so in a manner that was completely winning. Some of his speeches before parliament in support of the American's grievances are astonishingly persuasive and yet humble.

And then he left us with a model autobiography which still probably hasn't been matched.