Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Redistribution of Wealth & Education

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.
In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer.
And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

Immigration:

"The importation of foreigners into a country that has as many inhabitants as the present employments and provisions for subsistence will bear, will be in the end no increase of people, unless the new comers have more industry and frugality than the natives, and then they will provide more subsistence, and increase in the country; but they will gradually eat the natives out. Nor is it necessary to bring in foreigners to fill up any occasional vacancy in a country for such vacancy will soon be filled by natural generation."
("Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind and the Peopling of Countries," 1751)

Political Parties

"History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy.
An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy...
These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened."


Benjamin Franklin was frequently consulted by Thomas Paine for advice and suggestions regarding his political writings, and Franklin assisted Paine with some of his famous essays. This letter is Franklin's response to a manuscript Paine sent him that advocated against the concept of a providential God.

TO THOMAS PAINE.
[Date uncertain.]
DEAR SIR,

I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundations of all religion. For without the belief of a Providence, that takes cognizance of, guards, and guides, and may favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear his displeasure, or to pray for his protection.

I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present I shall only give you my opinion, that, though your reasonings are subtile and may prevail with some readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on that subject, and the consequence of printing this piece will be, a great deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. He that spits against the wind, spits in his own face.

But, were you to succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life, without the assistance afforded by religion; you having a clear perception of the advantages of virtue, and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations.

But think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security.

And perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother.

I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person; whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification by the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a good deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it. I intend this letter itself as a proof of my friendship, and therefore add no professions to it; but subscribe simply yours,

B. Franklin

more about this great man: 
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin Sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University
Benjamin Franklin on PBS 
Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth” (1758) 
A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain

On January 30, 1770, an anonymous missive, entitled A Conversation on Slavery appeared in the Public Advertiser, a Philadelphia newspaper. Written in the style of three individuals -- an Englishman, an American, and a Scotsman -- having a discussion concerning the problem of slavery and the slave trade, the three present a damning testimony of the moral failings of each participant's society.

The American character is forced to deflect criticisms from his two companions about the practice of keeping slaves while still clamoring for political liberty at home, turns the tables on the Scot and Englishman by pointing out that their own societies kept men in bondage in the same manner as Americans kept African-Americans.

A Conversation would remain an anonymous writing until 1934, when its authorship was proven to belong to one of America's Founding Fathers: Benjamin Franklin. The conversation is considered the turning point in Franklin's long relationship with the institution of slavery away from his younger years as a slave owner, to an abolitionist.

Benjamin Franklin Petitions Congress to Abolish slavery
Benjamin Franklin - Resume - Experience You can Trust 

Benjamin Franklin - Fast Facts

John Paul Jones, who became the premier American naval hero by raiding British merchant and military ships, named his vessel Bonhomme Richard -- French for "Poor Richard" -- in honor of Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack.

At the Constitutional Convention, Franklin, who was 81, was the most senior delegate. In fact, the wise Philadelphian, suffering from so many ailments, was often transported to the meetings by means of a sedan chair, the burden of which was supported by the sturdy shoulders of four convicts.

In the 1780's, part of Wrentham, Massachusetts split off from Wrentham.
As was common, this group of rural Massachusetts farmers used their church as the cultural, social, religous and governmental center of the town.
Unfortunately, they had no bell in the church.
There was no way to summon the farmers for services, or for emergencies such as fire.
As a result, they came up with a clever plan.
They named their new town "Franklin", and wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin asking him to donate a bell.
However, Dr. Franklin was not so inclined.
"Sense being preferable to sound,"
Dr. Franklin sent the good farmers a crate of books instead, and suggested they start a library.
It is the oldest public library in the United States.

He wrote to the French physician, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, describing it thus: “I rise early almost every morning and sit in my chamber, without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing.

As a scientist he was tantalized by the prospect of future progress, and speculated on everything from population growth (author Philip Dray notes that the 1890 census differed from Franklin’s predictions by only 0.13%) to flying. Writing to his friend, Joseph Priestley, Franklin said, “We may perhaps learn to deprive large Masses of their Gravity & give them absolute Levity, for the sake of easy Transport. Agriculture may diminish its Labour & double its Produce. All Diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured.” He hoped he might still witness these marvels, writing to a friend at the end of his life that, “I believe I shall, in some Shape or other, always exist.”

To his life's end, Ben Franklin remained a printer and took pride in it. Wherever he lived in Europe or America, he managed to have a printing press at his disposal. It is no accident that his last will and testament, written at age eighty-three (the year before he died) begins "I, Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, printer…".

Ben Franklin taught himself to read French, Spanish, Latin, and Italian. His passion for self-improvement extended to public projects; he organized the first fire company in the colonies, made designs for paving and lighting Philadelphia streets and for expanding the city watch to a force of police.

Ben Franklin organized the first volunteer fire company in 1736: The Union Fire Company. He wrote articles telling citizens how to prevent fires, stressing that an "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and he even told them to carry coals from one floor to another in a closed warming pan. Otherwise, he said, "scraps of fire may fall in to the chinks, and make no appearance until midnight, when your stairs being in flames, you may be forced (as I once was) to leap out of your windows and hazard your necks to avoid being over-roasted".

In 1751 Ben Franklin was instrumental in founding the first hospital in America. He raised ten thousand pounds from the Pennsylvania Assembly and a matching amount from the public.


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