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.).
“Man 's tongue is soft, and bone doth lack; yet a stroke therewith may break a man 's back.” From Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1740, these are several out of thousands of wise words spoken by America’s greatest Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin. He was among the most famous people of his time period and was one of the greatest celebrated figures in the history of the United States. There are numerous ways in which he achieved these titles but they all amount to the one feature that was constant throughout his entire life, success. Through inventing, writing, conducting science experiments such as detecting the presence of electricity in lightning, and being one of the biggest renowned diplomats during the 18th century, his life would leave a
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.
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
Benjamin Franklin, while not specifically trying to define a statesman, wrote a list of twelve virtues he aspired to attain in his attempt at achieve moral perfection. After scouring Christian teachings, Biblical revelations and classical works, he determined that temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality,
The man on the $100 bill earned his place as one of the most important people in history and revolutionary philosophies. In the Enlightenment Era, people were beginning to question the notions that people had always accepted as the truth, and Benjamin Franklin was not an exception. As the worlds of politics and religion were rapidly changing, he took his own beliefs and what he knew about previous events to try to find the best government and the religion that satisfied him. As an old man, he also questioned his younger self’s views of slavery and began to oppose it on moral grounds after having found out more about economics and morality. In the end, he also composed a list of thirteen virtues that would help people become the best
Franklin’s early passion for reading develop and shape his life as a young adult, and influence the formation, and importance placed on a public persona. He mentions his early affection for reading , “My early Readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read),” leads to a more advanced ability to study philosophy as a young man, including that of Socrates (Franklin 8). This develops his skills in debate, encouraging him to abandon “abrupt Contradiction, and positive Argumentation, and put on the humble Inquirer & Doubter…” (Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was a self taught writer unlike a lot of other people. He had a brilliant sense of humor always making jokes. He was very independent minded, always thinking to himself and a little bit stubborn sometimes. He was a journalist, his primary job or hobby was also being a journalist so his hobby and job were the same, he loved it so much he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette he was involved in some of the most important documents like the declaration of independence and he was even signed some
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.
The Korean War began after the end of the Second World War in 1950. Initially, the Korean peninsula was part of the Japanese Empire. After the Empire’s defeat, it forced them to split into North and South Korea. Soviet forces settled in North Korea while American troops moved to the south of the Korean peninsula. The United States on the side of South Korea decided to establish a democratic republic commission that was meant to oversee the election scheduled in 1948.
“If there was any one theme throughout Ben Franklin's life, it was self-improvement”(Holman). Most can agree that Benjamin Franklin is one of America’s most influential founding father. With many successful projects and books under his belt, it's hard not to see why many adore his theories and teachings. One of his most prominent accomplishments would have to be The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; mainly because of his plan for self improvement. In this text Franklin laid out thirteen values that are key to self improvement.
The importance of Ben Franklin has been told all throughout history, along with the famous $100 bill with his face on it. Drafting the Declaration of Independence, foudning universities and libraries, the post office, shaping policies in the U.S., publishing newspapers, making advances in science, and letting us use bifocals and using lighting for electricity. Even if this man never finished school, he did much reading and experiments that help us out today. The reason why I chose to write about Benjamin Franklin was because he was a very important Founding Father and it’s important for people to learn all about
Contrary to its title, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, began as merely a series of letters before transforming into its current form; an autobiographical text. Throughout the text, the reader is introduced to the early life and work of the author: Benjamin Franklin. The biography is organized into sections that contain various details and aspects of his life at given times. However, in the introduction, he begins his story by implying that aside from the rest of the text, this section is meant to act as a letter to his son. Following this, Franklin delves into his ancestry before promptly shifting the focus onto himself.
There were a lot of American men who had perfect influence on people’s mind of American society. Jonathan Edward and Benjamin Franklin were two of those writers, who were the most important and intellectual men, who left behind many admirable works for the future society. In spite of them being so intelligent, they have some different and similar views in terms of morality, personal responsibility, human nature, and limits of human knowledge and inform people how to live a better life. In addition, they were different in terms of religious inclinations. Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edward were both philosopher and had similar views in terms of informing people the right way to live in order to be successful and get salvation by reforming their mind in their life.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is composed of four different parts that were written at three different periods in Franklin’s life. The first section starts with Franklin addressing his son and it seems as though Franklin is telling his life story so that it may be an example of how he was continuously improving himself. Franklin also makes mention of his religious beliefs and God throughout the book which seems to be a theme throughout the book. Throughout Franklin’s Autobiography there are many themes displayed; self-improvement and religion, seem to stand out as two of the major subjects that Franklin was focused on.
