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 30
Page 1
... appears that they were happy together . It tells us something about both of them that he had an illegitimate son , William , born shortly before their marriage — he never revealed who the mother was — and that Deborah ungrudgingly [ 1 ] ...
... appears that they were happy together . It tells us something about both of them that he had an illegitimate son , William , born shortly before their marriage — he never revealed who the mother was — and that Deborah ungrudgingly [ 1 ] ...
Page 7
... appears the coast of France at a distance , and on the right is the town and castle of Dover , with the green hills and chalky cliffs of England , to which we must now bid farewell . Albion , farewell ! Monday , July 25 All the morning ...
... appears the coast of France at a distance , and on the right is the town and castle of Dover , with the green hills and chalky cliffs of England , to which we must now bid farewell . Albion , farewell ! Monday , July 25 All the morning ...
Page 18
... appearing like tufts of trees . I could not discern it so soon as the rest ; my eyes were dimmed with the suffusion ... appears very pleasant to the eye , being covered with woods , except here and there a house and plantation . We cast ...
... appearing like tufts of trees . I could not discern it so soon as the rest ; my eyes were dimmed with the suffusion ... appears very pleasant to the eye , being covered with woods , except here and there a house and plantation . We cast ...
Page 34
... appearing remarkably fair . Whether this is owing to a small Colony of Spinners , Woolcombers and Weavers , & c . brought hither from Holland with the Woollen Manufacture about 60 Years ago ; or to their being less expos'd to the Sun ...
... appearing remarkably fair . Whether this is owing to a small Colony of Spinners , Woolcombers and Weavers , & c . brought hither from Holland with the Woollen Manufacture about 60 Years ago ; or to their being less expos'd to the Sun ...
Page 35
... appears younger than he is . In the Evening we were at the Grand Couvert , where the Family sup in Publick . The Form of their sitting at the Table was this : Mad . Louife Waiters Had Sophie . Mad Victoire Had . Delaide The Queen The ...
... appears younger than he is . In the Evening we were at the Grand Couvert , where the Family sup in Publick . The Form of their sitting at the Table was this : Mad . Louife Waiters Had Sophie . Mad Victoire Had . Delaide The Queen The ...
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