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
Results 1-5 of 35
Page 1
... Philadelphia , " Let all men know thee , but no man know thee thoroughly . ” I think he followed that injunction in the Autobiography . In his other writings , he seldom talks about himself at all , but we can catch him unawares . We ...
... Philadelphia , " Let all men know thee , but no man know thee thoroughly . ” I think he followed that injunction in the Autobiography . In his other writings , he seldom talks about himself at all , but we can catch him unawares . We ...
Page 5
... Philadelphia, worked there for a year, then spent a kind of junior year abroad (actually a year and a half ) in London, working as a printer and sowing a few wild oats. Now he is aboard ship, waiting for a favoring wind to carry him ...
... Philadelphia, worked there for a year, then spent a kind of junior year abroad (actually a year and a half ) in London, working as a printer and sowing a few wild oats. Now he is aboard ship, waiting for a favoring wind to carry him ...
Page 19
... Philadelphia by land . Four of us remained on board , not caring for the fatigue of travel when we knew the voyage had much weakened us . About eight at night , the wind failing us , we cast anchor at Redbank , six miles from Philadelphia ...
... Philadelphia by land . Four of us remained on board , not caring for the fatigue of travel when we knew the voyage had much weakened us . About eight at night , the wind failing us , we cast anchor at Redbank , six miles from Philadelphia ...
Page 22
... Philadelphia Bank goes on , as I hear , very well . What you call the Cincinnati Institution is no Institution of our Government , but a private Convention among the Officers of our late Army , & so universally dislik'd by the People ...
... Philadelphia Bank goes on , as I hear , very well . What you call the Cincinnati Institution is no Institution of our Government , but a private Convention among the Officers of our late Army , & so universally dislik'd by the People ...
Page 25
... Philadelphia he became famous for his yearly Poor Richard's Almanack, with its aphorisms salted through the pages. These are the source of the pithy injunctions to industry, thrift, earnestness, and hu- mility that gave him his ...
... Philadelphia he became famous for his yearly Poor Richard's Almanack, with its aphorisms salted through the pages. These are the source of the pithy injunctions to industry, thrift, earnestness, and hu- mility that gave him his ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Acts of Parliament Adams Advantage Albany Congress America Articles of Confederation Assembly become Benjamin Franklin Boat Body Britain British Business called Children chimney Clouds cold Collinson Colonies Commerce common conductors Congress continued Country dear Debt Earth electric Fluid Emma Thompson empire England English Europe excerpted Expence Experiment Family Fire France French Friend give Globe Government Grand Council Honour House human increase Indians Inhabitants Island Jane Mecom Jonathan Shipley Julien-David Le Roy kind King Labour Land Laws letter lightning live London Lord Madame Helvétius Manufactures means Merchants Money Nation natural never Number Observations occasion Opinion Parliament Peace Pennsylvania perhaps Persons Peter Collinson Philadelphia Power present Property proposed Quantity Ships slaves Society soon Stamp Act Subsistence Sugar Taxes thing thought thro tion Trade treaty Union wanted Water wind