Benjamin Franklin and His 13 Virtues In part II of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, he lists the 13 virtues every man should follow to establish a modeled “habitude” that would better life for all men of the time period. Although not all men of the 1780s were perfect examples of these virtues, these virtues are what the “old lights” strived to be. The virtues “occurred to [Franklin] as necessary or desirable” (Franklin, 428). The success of the nation was reliant on heading towards a similar goal - a goal to be a well-respected example for the nation. Although Franklin makes a point to say this experiment is about him, he also writes that “it may be well my posterity should be informed…” (Franklin 433). Franklin is writing this with the intent of others seeing his argument. He makes a clear point that this is the direction a perfect man should be heading towards. After conducting his experiment with the virtues, Franklin “was …show more content…
The virtues aren’t for any one specific group but a group as a whole. Man should follow the virtues and not vicious actions because vicious actions are harmful. Franklin believes that everyone should take interest in being virtuous if they “wish’d to be happy even in this World.” (Franklin, 433) Franklin’s 13 Virtues was a guide for Americans and future generations to follow to become the model citizens they believed they were. Franklin listed the ways and descriptions of what one should do to fall into having these as common everyday habits. Once trained to follow the virtues, by working on a specific one each week, man would be able to prove he was a paragon for the society. Franklin and his 13 virtues may not have represented the individuals of the day, but was a representation of what the “old lights” should and wanted to be