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Benjamin Franklin's Proposal Essay

669 Words3 Pages

In 1743, Benjamin Franklin wrote a document proposing the establishment of a society that promoted the exchange of information concerning botany, immunology, geology, mathematics, chemistry, cartography, and geography throughout the British colonies. Aimed at fostering intellectual and scientific advancement, Franklin's proposal laid the groundwork for the establishment of the American Philosophical Society (APS). The APS's purpose would be to discuss and disseminate scientific information that would better society. With Franklin’s proposal, the American Philosophical Society became a seminal institution that has spread and preserved knowledge since its founding in 1743. By analyzing Benjamin Franklin’s “A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge Amongst British Plantations in America,” it will reveal how the establishment of the American Philosophical Society has benefitted society and why Franklin found its establishment to be necessary. …show more content…

Wanting to both gain and spread as much scientific knowledge as possible, he proposed the establishment of a society that would help connect other polymaths or “virtuosi” who were scattered about the colonies.1 The original thirteen colonies stretched from modern day Maine down to Georgia, and each of those colonies consisted of their own unique biome. By forming a learned society, experts from each colony would be able to congregate and swap information about the kinds of flora and fauna present near their homes and what their uses or dangers were. A key figure in the American Enlightenment, Franklin wanted to form a society that would benefit the colonies as a whole. By organizing a group that consisted of the colonies’ best minds, it would ensure that each of the colonies would remain up to date on any new scientific information that had been discovered, even if it had been several hundred miles

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