Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings from Benjamin FranklinThis engaging book reveals Benjamin Franklin’s human side—his tastes and habits, his enthusiasms, and his devotion to democracy and the people of the United States. Three hundred years after his birth, we may remember Franklin’s famous Autobiography, or his status as framer of the Declaration of Independence and the peace with Great Britain, or his experiments in electricity, or perhaps his sage advice on diligence and thrift. But historian Edmund S. Morgan invites us to meet the man himself, a sociable, good-natured, and extraordinary human being with boundless curiosity about the natural world and a vision of what America could be. Drawing on lifelong research in the vast Franklin archives, Morgan assembles both famous and lesser-known writings that offer insights into this founding father’s thinking. The book is organized around four major themes, each with an introduction. The first section includes journal excerpts and letters revealing Franklin’s personal tastes and habits. The second is devoted to Franklin’s inexhaustible intellectual energy and his scientific discoveries. The third and fourth chronicle his devotion to serving the people who became the United States both before and after the Revolution and to advancing his democratic vision of their future. Franklin’s humanity and genius have never seemed more real than in the pages of this appealing anthology. |
From inside the book
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Page xiv
... advantage of the cd-rom of the entire body of Franklin's papers, published and unpublished, prepared by the Packard Humanities Institute. The ability to call up any document instantly by author, recipient, date, or subject greatly ...
... advantage of the cd-rom of the entire body of Franklin's papers, published and unpublished, prepared by the Packard Humanities Institute. The ability to call up any document instantly by author, recipient, date, or subject greatly ...
Page 7
... advantage they make of imposing upon strangers. If you buy any thing of them, and give half what they ask, you pay twice as much as the thing is worth. Thank God, we shall leave it to-morrow. Saturday, July 23 This day we weighed anchor ...
... advantage they make of imposing upon strangers. If you buy any thing of them, and give half what they ask, you pay twice as much as the thing is worth. Thank God, we shall leave it to-morrow. Saturday, July 23 This day we weighed anchor ...
Page 31
... Advantage in being belov'd, but it pleases my Humour. Now it is near four Months since I have been favour'd with a single Line from you; but I will not be angry with you, because 'tis my fault. I ran in debt to you three or four Letters ...
... Advantage in being belov'd, but it pleases my Humour. Now it is near four Months since I have been favour'd with a single Line from you; but I will not be angry with you, because 'tis my fault. I ran in debt to you three or four Letters ...
Page 50
... Advantage. Dear Sir, do not let us su√er ourselves to be amused with such groundless Objections. The very Tails of the American Sheep are so laden with Wool, that each has a Car or Waggon on four little Wheels to support and keep it ...
... Advantage. Dear Sir, do not let us su√er ourselves to be amused with such groundless Objections. The very Tails of the American Sheep are so laden with Wool, that each has a Car or Waggon on four little Wheels to support and keep it ...
Page 51
... Advantage of all future Livies, Rapins, Robertsons, Humes, Smol- lets, and Macaulays, who may be sincerely inclin'd to furnish the World with that rara Avis, a true History. I am, sir, Your humble Servant A Traveller Remarks Concerning ...
... Advantage of all future Livies, Rapins, Robertsons, Humes, Smol- lets, and Macaulays, who may be sincerely inclin'd to furnish the World with that rara Avis, a true History. I am, sir, Your humble Servant A Traveller Remarks Concerning ...
Contents
1 | |
Part II Nature observed | 67 |
Part III A continental vision | 141 |
Part IV War peace and humanity | 219 |
Chronology | 289 |
Credits | 291 |
Index | 297 |
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Common terms and phrases
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