Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (82 page)
Read Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Online
Authors: Walter Isaacson
Tags: #Azizex666, #General, #United States, #Historical, #Revolutionary Period (1775-1800), #Biography & Autobiography, #History
48
. Archives of Congregation Mikveh Israel, Apr. 30, 1788 (Franklin’s gift is one of the three largest of forty-four, and he is on top of the subscriber list), www.mikvehisrael.org/gifs/frank2.jpg ; BF to John Calder, Aug. 21, 1784.
49
. BF to Ezra Stiles, Mar. 9, 1790.
50
. BF to Thomas Jefferson, Apr. 8, 1790.
51
. Reports of Dr. John Jones and Benjamin Rush, in Sparks and elsewhere; Pa. Gazette, Apr. 21, 1790; Benjamin Bache to Margaret Markoe, May 2, 1790.
52
. Epitaph, 1728; this is the version Temple Franklin published. See Papers CD 41:u539. Franklin also produced slightly edited versions, including one that ends “Corrected and amended/By the author” (Papers 1:109a).
53
. Last will and testament, plus codicil, June 23, 1789, Papers CD 46:u20.
1
. Last will and testament, plus codicil, June 23, 1789, Papers CD 46:u20; Skemp
William,
275. The will and codicil are at www.sln.fi.edu/franklin/family/ lastwill.html.
2
. WF to TF, July 3, 1789; Skemp
William,
275; Lopez
Private,
309. A full and authorized English edition of Franklin’s autobiography was not published until 1868.
3
. The two great books on Benjamin Bache and his paper are Jeffery A. Smith,
Franklin and Bache: Envisioning the Enlightened Republic
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), and Richard Rosenfeld,
American Aurora
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1997). See also Bernard Faÿ,
The Two Franklins
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1933).
4
. Patricia Nealon, “Ben Franklin Trust to Go to State, City,”
Boston Globe,
Dec. 7, 1993, A22; Clark DeLeon, “Divvying Up Ben,”
Philadelphia Inquirer,
Feb. 7, 1993, B2; Tom Ferrick Jr., “Ben Franklin’s Gift Keeps Giving,”
Philadelphia Inquirer,
Jan. 27, 2002, B1; Tour de Sol Web site, www.nesea.org/transportation/ tour ;
The Franklin Gazette,
printed by the Friends of Franklin Inc., www.benfranklin2006.org (spring 2002); Philadelphia Academies Annual Report 2001 and Web site, www.academiesinc.org. Web sites on Franklin’s bequest include www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2000-01/lastpage.html ; www.cs.app state.edu/˜sjg/class/1010/wc/finance/benfranklin.html ; www.lehighvalleyfounda tion.org/support.html#BenFranklin.
1
.
The Nation,
July 9, 1868, reprinted in Norton Autobiography 270. See also Nian-Sheng Huang,
Benjamin Franklin in American Thought and Culture, 1790–1990
(Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1994).
2
. The Provost Smith papers,
Pennsylvania Gazette,
Apr. 1997, www.upenn.edu/gazette/0497/.
3
. John Adams,
Boston Patriot,
May 15, 1811.
4
. Gordon Wood,
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
(New York: Vintage, 1991), 347; John Adams to TF, May 5, 1817; Francis, Lord Jeffrey,
Edinburgh Review
8 (1806), in Norton Autobiography 253. Jeffrey was reviewing an earlier unauthorized edition of the writings and autobiography.
5
. Robert Spiller, “Franklin and the Art of Being Human,”
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
100.4 (Aug. 1956): 304.
6
. John Keats to George and Georgiana Keats, Oct. 31, 1818; Leigh Hunt,
Autobiography
(New York: Harper, 1850), 1:130–32; both reprinted in Norton Autobiography 257, 266.
7
. Herman Melville,
Israel Potter
(1855; New York: Library of America, 1985), chapter 8, http://www.melville.org/hmisrael.htm ; Autobiography 45.
8
. Emerson’s Journals 1:375, quoted in Campbell 35; Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Works,
12:189, cited in Yale Autobiography 13.
9
. David Brooks, “Among the Bourgeoisophobes,”
The Weekly Standard,
Apr. 15, 2002.
10
. Mark Twain, “The Late Benjamin Franklin,”
The Galaxy,
July 1870.
11
. Jim Powell, “How Benjamin Franklin’s
Autobiography
inspired all kinds of people to help themselves,” www.libertystory.net/LSCONNFRAN.htm.
12
. Frederick Jackson Turner, essay in
The Dial,
May 1887; William Dean Howells, “Editor’s Study,”
Harper’s,
Apr. 1888; reprinted in Norton Autobiography.
13
. Max Weber,
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
first published (in German) in 1904 and revised in 1920 (New York: Harper Collins, 1930), 52–53; Van Wyck Brooks,
America’s Coming of Age,
originally published in 1915 as an essay (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1934); William Carlos Williams,
In the Grain
(New York: New Directions, 1925), 153; Sinclair Lewis,
Babbitt,
first published in 1922, chapter 16, section 3, see www.bartleby.com/162/16.html.
14
. D. H. Lawrence, “Benjamin Franklin,”
Studies in Classic American Literature
(New York: Viking, 1923), 10–16, xroads.virginia.edu/˜HYPER/LAWRENCE/ dhlch02.htm ; Cervantes,
Don Quixote,
part 2, chapter 33; Aesop, “The Milkmaid and the Pail.” Franklin did cite the maxim “Honesty is the best policy” in a letter to Edward Bridgen, Oct. 2, 1779, but it was part of a list of maxims that could be on coins, and he did not claim it as his own.
15
. Charles Angoff,
A Literary History of the American People
(New York: Knopf, 1931), 296–308.
16
. Herbert Schneider,
The Puritan Mind
(New York: Henry Holt, 1930); Van Doren 782; I. Bernard Cohen,
Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941), 73.
17
. For more on Dale Carnegie’s
How to Win Friends and Influence People
(1937; New York: Pocket Books, 1994), see ch. 4 n. 6, above; E. Digby Baltzell,
Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia
(New York: Free Press, 1979), 55.
18
. FranklinCovey Web site, www.franklincovey.com ; Grady McAllister, “An Unhurried Look at Time Management,” vasthead.com/Time/tm_papl.html. Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster,
In Search of America
(New York: Hyperion, 2002), chapter 3, reports on an interesting class discussion by Baylor professor Blaine Mc-Cormick about Franklin as the founding father of business books.
19
. Brands 715; Morgan
Franklin,
314.
20
. Alan Taylor, “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,”
The New Republic,
Mar. 19, 2001, 39. The play
1776,
by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, opened at Broadway’s 46th Street Theater on Mar. 16, 1969, ran for 1,217 performances, and was made into a film in 1972; Howard Da Silva played Franklin on both stage and screen.
Ben Franklin in Paris,
by Mark Sandrich Jr. and Sidney Michaels, opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on Oct. 27, 1964, and ran for 215 performances with Robert Preston playing Franklin.
21
. David Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,”
The Weekly Standard,
Oct. 23, 2000, 32, 35.
22
. BF to JM, July 17, 1771.
23
. Taylor, “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” 39.
24
. Vernon Parrington,
Main Currents in American Thought
(New York: Harcourt, 1930), 1:178.
25
. Taylor, “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” 39.
26
. Poor Richard’s, 1750; BF to Louis Le Veillard, Mar. 6, 1786; Autobiography 107 (all use the “empty sack” line).
27
. Brooks, “Our Founding Yuppie,” 35.
28
. Autobiography 139.
29
. Angoff,
A Literary History of the American People,
306; Garry Wills,
Under God
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), 380.
30
. Henry Steele Commager,
The American Mind
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950), 26; John Updike, “Many Bens,”
New Yorker,
Feb. 22, 1988, 115.
31
. David Hume to BF, May 10, 1762; Campbell 356.
abolition
abortion issue
Adams, Abigail
Madame Helvétius described by
Adams, John
BF’s relationship with
Great Seal and
in Paris mission
in peace negotiations
in Staten Island summit
Vergennes and
and writing of Declaration of Independence
Adams, John Quincy
Adams, Samuel
Addison, Joseph
“Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress” (Franklin)
“Advice to a Young Tradesman Written by an Old One” (Franklin)
Aesop
Age of Reason
Age of Reason, The
(Paine)
Albany Plan,
Indians and
unified colonies idea and
Aldridge, Alfred Owen
Alger, Horatio
Allen, William
Alliance
almanacs
alphabet, phonetic
Alsop, Susan Mary
American Aurora
American Magazine
American Mind, The
(Commager)
American Philosophical Society
American Revolution
battles of,
see specific battles
Canada invaded in
financial problems in
independence question and
Olive Branch Petition in
onset of
Philadelphia captured in
Staten Island summit in
treaty ending
American Weekly Mercury
analytic truths
André, John
Andrews, Jedediah
Anglican Church,
Anglo-American peace negotiations of 1782:
Adams in
“advisable” points in
American delegation to
assessment of diplomacy in
BF’s peace proposal in
British back-door overtures in
compensation for loyalists in
fishing rights in
French protest of
Hartley’s ten-year truce proposal in
independence debate in
Jay in
“necessary” points in
official opening of
Oswald-BF talks in
prewar debts in
reparations issue in
separate peace as issue in
signing of treaty in
Spain and
status of Canada in
Temple Franklin and
Thomas Grenville-BF talks in
Vaughan’s secret mission and
western boundary in
Yorktown Battle and
Angoff, Charles
“Anti-Courant, The” (Walter)
“Apology for Printers” (Franklin)
Aquinas, Saint Thomas
Arabella
Aristotle
armonica
Arnold, Benedict
“Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion” (Franklin)
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union
“Art of Procuring Pleasant Dreams, The” (Franklin)
Art of Swimming, The
(Thevenot)
Asgill, Charles
Associated Families
Associates of Dr. Bray
Augustine, Saint
Austria
Austrian Succession, War of
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, The
(Franklin)
writing of
Babbitt
(Lewis)
Bache, Benjamin Franklin
described
education of
personality of
in return to Passy
in training as printer
Voltaire’s blessing of
Bache, Deborah
Bache, Elizabeth
Bache, Louis
Bache, Mary
Bache, Richard (father)
Bache, Richard (son)
Bache, Sarah (BF’s granddaughter)
Bache, Sarah Franklin “Sally” (BF’s daughter)
BF’s “luxury” letter to
in BF’s will
birth of
marriage of
Bache, William
bagatelles
Bailyn, Bernard
balloon fad
Bancroft, Edward
Banks, Joseph
Barber of Seville, The
(Beaumarchais)
Barclay, David
Bartram, John
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de
Becker, Carl
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Benezet, Anthony
Ben Franklin in Paris
(Sandrich and Michaels)
Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves
(Tanford)
Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies
(Middlekauff)
Benjamin Franklin and His Gods
(Walters)
Benjamin Franklin and Nature’s God
(Aldridge)
Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
Bentham, Jeremy
Berkeley, George
bifocal glasses
Board of Associated Loyalists
Board of Trade, London
Bob (Bache family slave)
Bonhomme Richard,
Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good
(C. Mather)
Bonvouloir, Julien de
Boston, Mass..
British blockade of
in eighteenth century
libraries of
Puritan hierarchy of
smallpox epidemic in
Boston Evening Post
Boston Gazette
Boston Latin School
Boston Massacre
Boston
News Ledger
Boston News-Letter
Boston Tea Party
Boswell, James
Bourbon, Duchess of
Boyle, Robert
Braddock, Edward
Bradford, Andrew
Bradford, William (father)
Bradford, William (son)
Bradstreet, Simon
Brands, H. W.
Breintnall, Joseph
Bridgewater, Duke of
Brillon de Jouy, Anne-Louise
Brillon de Jouy, Cunégonde
Brillon de Jouy, Monsieur
Broglio, Count
Brooker, William
Brooks, David
Brooks, Van Wyck
Brownell, George
Buffon, Comte de
Bunker Hill, Battle of
Bunyan, John
Burgoyne, John
Burke, Edmund
Burnet, Gilbert
“Business Man, The” (Poe)
Busy-Body Essays,
Bute, Lord
Cabanis, Pierre-Jean-Georges
Cabinet, U.S.
Caillot, Blanchette
Calvin, John
Calvinism
Cambridge mission
Cambridge University
Campan, Henriette de
Campbell, James
Campbell, John
Canada
Britain’s retention of
Quebec expedition and
Carlyle, Thomas
Carlyle conference
Carnegie, Andrew
Carnegie, Dale
Caslon, William
“Casuist, The” (BF pen name)
“Causes of the American Discontents” (Franklin)
Cellini, Benvenuto
Cervantes, Miguel de
Channel Islands
Charles, Jacques
Charles, Prince of Lorrains
Charles I, King of England
Charles II, King of England
Charleston, S.C.
Chatham, Lord,
see
Pitt, William
Chaumont, Jacques-Donatien Leray de,
Chaumont, Madame de
Checkley, John
chess
Chesterfield, Earl of
Child, Anne,
see
Franklin, Anne Child
Cholmondeley, Lord
“Christian at His Calling, A” (C. Mather)
Cincinnati, Society of
Civil War, U.S.
Clinton, George
Clinton, Henry
Cohen, I. Bernard
Colden, Cadwallader
Coleman, William
colleges
Collins, John
Collinson, Peter
Collyer, Hannah
Commager, Henry Steele
Committee on Correspondence Massachusetts
common cold
Common Sense
(Paine)
community associations
Concord, Battle of
Condorcet, Marie-Jean Caritat, Marquis de
Confessions
(Rousseau)
Confessions
(St. Augustine)
Congregation Mikveh Israel
Congress, U.S.
House of Representatives, U.S.; Senate, U.S.
Connecticut
Connecticut Compromise
Constitution, U.S.
Constitutional Convention of
BF’s role in
BF’s speeches in
bicameral legislature as issue in
colonial discord and
Connecticut Compromise in
delegates to
election of judges as issue in
executive powers debated in
impeachment powers in
payment of legislators debated in
prayer as issue in
property requirements debated in
representation debated in
signing of Constitution in
slavery as issue in
states’ rights in
two-headed snake fable and
Virginia plan in
Washington in
“Conte” (Franklin)
Continental Congress (1774)
Continental Congress (1775)
BF’s assignments for
BF selected as delegate to
BF’s Paris mission and
Cambridge mission and
Committee of Secret Correspondence of
Declaration of Independence edited in
financial problems of
Franco-American treaty ratified by
Great Seal adopted by