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Benjamin Franklin Thesis

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Recommended: Autobiography of benjamin franklin essays

Luis Di Meco
Hist 1301
Critical Analysis Paper

Here is the story of a man who was born in arduous times, only a century after the first settlers landed in the New World, and still became to be one of the most prosperous men in all of history. My analysis is on the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin, a man who was not only a scientist but a printer, politician, inventor, author, postmaster, diplomat, and a prominent civic activist. The overall theme of this book is to show, how through self-improvement and consistent work ethic, one can achieve success. This autobiography is not just a story Benjamin claimed to write so that his own example on how to live a better life could be passed on to his son, but it is also a model …show more content…

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, coming from a family of descendants from Northamptonshire, England. He was the youngest son, and had 16 other brothers and sisters. Since an early age Benjamin had shown great enthusiasm and ability in reading and writing. Thus, his father Josiah, took him to his brother James, where he signed an 8-year contract to work for him, in his printing business. This is where Benjamin was able to take the opportunity to increase his reading and writing skills, which developed his interest over time. The issue, was that James was a stubborn man and seemed to bump heads with him a lot. This is when, at the age of 17, Franklin lost importance in working with his brother, decided to break the contract, and look for work elsewhere. He had to leave the city because James made sure that he couldn’t find a job anywhere else in town. He …show more content…

This autobiography has been an eye-opener, in the sense that it has made me reevaluate my priorities and goals in life, and that is exactly what I think Benjamin Franklin wanted for his readers. The fact that he accomplished so much in a time where life was not as simple as today, goes to show that anything is possible as long as you set your mind to it. I was very interested in his virtue system and the way he always tried to achieve excellence, although he figured out that it wasn’t impeccably possible, one could definitely improve greatly. Franklin states, "It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into.” with this list of 13 virtues that are: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility. He created a weekly plan where he focused on one virtue per week, until he got developed them greatly by focusing on his successes and fails, which he would write down and analyze. "There will be sleeping enough in the grave." Franklin although unable to find perfectionism, said that he did find felicity thanks to the constant development of these

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Describe Franklin’s early years including his education. Give a complete and accurate account? When Benjamin was young he had a dream of going out to sea; however, his father thought this was an absurd idea. In order to keep him home, his father put him to work at an apprenticeship under his brother in a Print shop.

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In his writing a theme that is most prevalent is that of the American dream. Although not coined that yet, as the United States didn’t exist at the time. But right from the beginning Franklin speaks to the fact that he created his success and fortune from nothing but hard work, and intelligence. When describing Franklin’s Autobiography as a primary source, it is important to note that this theme of the American Dream. Most famously from the Declaration of Independence preamble, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” ( Dec. of Ind. Pre.).

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Born in 1706 as the eighth of 17 children to a Massachusetts soap and candlestick maker, the chances Benjamin Franklin would go on to become a gentleman, scholar, scientist, statesman, musician, author, publisher and all-around general genius were astronomically low, yet he did just that. Franklin wrote in the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual revolution in the 18th century. The ideals of the enlightenment are still thought of today, as they are a part of the United States’ Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When one remembers Benjamin Franklin very few people are aware of the fact that he worked as a printer until the age of 42. As a printer he had access to substantial amounts of literature.

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Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of 84. He can be described as a many-sided Renaissance American since during his life he developed great careers as a writer, publisher, scientist, inventor, diplomat and politician. Even though he accomplished these many tittles in his life, he never received a formal education longer than 2 years due to his parent’s economic position, being this the main reason why he got sent to work at the young age of 13, being his first job at his dad’s printing press. Franklin ran away from home at the age of 17 pursuing his dream of having his own printing shop and newspaper, where he could publish all his letters and writings without the

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“Most Part of the Time, I work’d hard at my Business, and spent but little upon myself except in seeing Plays, and in Books. “ (280) As he grew older he ended up finding a way to do what he wanted, which was to build his own business. it took Franklin awhile to get where he wanted to because of his young age , but he ended up managing to do it himself with very little support from his family. Being independent for Benjamin Franklin literally meant to do things by yourself , for yourself, and with little

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The Autobiography was written by Benjamin Franklin is his outline for his plan to achieve moral perfection, his moral perfection was written down step by step. Benjamin Franklin made a list of 13 virtues that he wanted to achieve in his lifetime. He started on the first one and would stay with it until he thought he had gotten it down pat and then he would move on to the second thing then the next thing on his list and so on and so fourth until he had reached moral perfection. Benjamin Franklin felt that the smartest ways to reach his goal was to take his time on each and every step.

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With sixteen other siblings Benjamin Franklin’s early life was anything but easy,

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Benjamin Franklin moved from Boston to Philadelphia. After moving to London in 1724, Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726 to find that Deborah had married in the interim, only to be abandoned by her husband just months after the wedding. Around that time, Franklin fathered a son, William, out of wedlock who was taken in by the couple. The pair’s first son, Francis, was born in 1732, but he died four years later of smallpox.

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In order to understand how important this man was, I’ll be talking about his life, work, and accomplishments. Benjamin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706 to a soap and candle maker. His father, Josiah Franklin, had seven children with his first spouse, Anne Child, and ten more with his second spouse, Abiah Folger. Ben was the youngest son of Josiah and his 15th child. Ben stopped going to school at age 10 to work full-time in his father’s candle and soap shop.

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He first started with the improvement of the City Watch, which was run by mostly ineffective citizens and the price to pay to get out of the watch was unfair to the poor. Franklin proposed a new plan which included “the Hiring of proper men” (105). He also improved in his virtue of Frugality when he drafted a tax plan based on property in order to help pay for the service of competent workers. Improving the City Watch also strengthened his virtue of Justice since Franklin sought to fix the previously unjust payment problem. Not long after he fixed the City Watch, he wrote a paper about the carelessness of house fires and how to prevent them.

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Benjamin Franklin is known to be an “Archetypal American,” because of his beliefs on religion, self-improvement, hard work, and determination; but also his somewhat prideful spirit. Much of modern America is quite similar to Franklin in his actions throughout his lifetime. In his early years, Franklin’s father, Josiah, had a set plan for what he was supposed to do with his life, as a minister. Soon into his education, he found an interest in reading and writing, so he began pursuing a career in printing.

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Philanthropy, tolerance, and perseverance are only three of these traits that distinguish an American from those of other countries. Although Benjamin Franklin lived his life according to numerous characteristics he found important, including these three, it remains crucial that the citizens of today’s society learn from Franklin and carry on the importance of these characteristics in their own lives. Without the evidence of these characteristics in early Americans, the state of the country would be (quite) worse off than it already is. As hatred consumes the world, the need for these pivotal traits increases, and without them society will surely fall backwards and civilization will no longer be able to progress forward, leaving the next generations to pick up the pieces of these

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Franklin made it a huge part of his life to continue bettering his education and himself. Due to Franklins determination, he became a very successful politician along with so much more. Lastly, religion was another large part of Franklin’s book, he speaks thoroughly about his thoughts on different religions and his search for what he truly believed in. Despite leaving his religious group and stating that he doubted the Revelation he still stated that he had respect for other religious groups and supported the

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He talks about things from the “establishment, that which [he] first formed, called the Union Fire Company” (Franklin 82) which was a big deal back then to inventing a new fireplace. He writes about his good deeds because Franklin wants to show what good Americans can do. His son would probably not have care as much, but the general public would care how Americans can prosper. Part three is all about how he prospered, how he lived the ‘American Dream’ Some believe that Benjamin Franklin wrote about his good deeds because he wanted to show Great Britain how great America was. He wanted to show that they could grow and prosper, that the Americans do not need Great Britain to survive, that they are fine by themselves, maybe ever

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Franklin claims that he has been living long enough to see errors that he made, therefore as he grow older, he tend to “doubt of [his] own judgment” because nobody is perfect due to his past experiences (43). The informations that Franklin presents is to show his reputation that he is not perfect, also his constitution but he is open minded and willing to make what is best for the people. The perspective errors of the constitution have, is being “sacrificed to the public good” meaning all the flaw that constitution have will not be reveal to the people (44). Franklin is very passion about what is best for the people and their happiness, furthermore his characteristic is very respectful toward the citizen and the congress.

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