After realizing Franklin needed to change his ways he then came up with thirteen virtues to embody in his life. He took on each virtue at a time fully master it before moving to the next, to make sure he truly did practice what each one ment. Franklin “made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day” (Franklin 116). The book allowed Franklin to take a step further on his self examination. He strictly followed the schedule of doing one virtue per day. He was eager to see the progress he had made by glancing back at the pages in the book. The strict guidelines Benjamin Franklin set …show more content…
In the same way Franklin composed a list of virtues he should follow to better himself, Thoman Jefferson composed a document declaring independence to better America. Thomas Jefferson is one of the most widely respected figure in American history. He had an intense belief in equal rights and individual freedoms. In “The Declaration of Independence” Jefferson wrote reasons he believed the Americans should feel compelled to declare their independence. He uses parallelism throughout the document to emphasize this important idea and make his argument stronger after each reason he presented. An example of this is “"For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" (Jefferson 146). Jefferson is willing to give up anything to protect America, to be better off alone without Britain. Benjamin Franklin was also willing to give his life to perfect himself. He sent 24 hours a day making sure he abided by his quest for personal independence through the thirteen virtues he constricted. Just like how Jefferson Was willing to put everything on the line for independence. The quest for national independence is mirrored in the quest for personal