Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings from Benjamin FranklinThis engaging book reveals Benjamin Franklin’s human side—his tastes and habits, his enthusiasms, and his devotion to democracy and the people of the United States. Three hundred years after his birth, we may remember Franklin’s famous Autobiography, or his status as framer of the Declaration of Independence and the peace with Great Britain, or his experiments in electricity, or perhaps his sage advice on diligence and thrift. But historian Edmund S. Morgan invites us to meet the man himself, a sociable, good-natured, and extraordinary human being with boundless curiosity about the natural world and a vision of what America could be. Drawing on lifelong research in the vast Franklin archives, Morgan assembles both famous and lesser-known writings that offer insights into this founding father’s thinking. The book is organized around four major themes, each with an introduction. The first section includes journal excerpts and letters revealing Franklin’s personal tastes and habits. The second is devoted to Franklin’s inexhaustible intellectual energy and his scientific discoveries. The third and fourth chronicle his devotion to serving the people who became the United States both before and after the Revolution and to advancing his democratic vision of their future. Franklin’s humanity and genius have never seemed more real than in the pages of this appealing anthology. |
From inside the book
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Page xiii
... point to the most casual reader. So you can read the selections at random if you wish. Each will make sense by itself. But I have arranged them in a sequence, not always chronological, that I believe will exhibit the man as he developed ...
... point to the most casual reader. So you can read the selections at random if you wish. Each will make sense by itself. But I have arranged them in a sequence, not always chronological, that I believe will exhibit the man as he developed ...
Page 21
... point des Tetons . He assur'd me it was a Fact , and had me look at them , and observe how flat they were on the Breast ; they have nothing more there , says he , than I have upon the Back of my Hand . I have since thought that there ...
... point des Tetons . He assur'd me it was a Fact , and had me look at them , and observe how flat they were on the Breast ; they have nothing more there , says he , than I have upon the Back of my Hand . I have since thought that there ...
Page 25
... point here is that one of Poor Richard's most common pieces of advice was, in modern parlance, to just shut up: Great talkers, little Doers. Here comes the Orator with his Flood of words, and his Drop of Reason. None preaches better ...
... point here is that one of Poor Richard's most common pieces of advice was, in modern parlance, to just shut up: Great talkers, little Doers. Here comes the Orator with his Flood of words, and his Drop of Reason. None preaches better ...
Page 36
... Points of Cleanliness they exceed us . The Water they drink , tho ' from the River , they render as pure as that of the best Spring , by filtring it thro ' Cisterns fill'd with Sand ; and the Streets by constant Sweeping are fit to walk ...
... Points of Cleanliness they exceed us . The Water they drink , tho ' from the River , they render as pure as that of the best Spring , by filtring it thro ' Cisterns fill'd with Sand ; and the Streets by constant Sweeping are fit to walk ...
Page 37
... Point settled here universally that Strangers are to be treated with Respect , and one has just the same Defer- ence shewn one here by being a Stranger as in England by being a Lady . The Custom House Officers at Port St. Denis , as we ...
... Point settled here universally that Strangers are to be treated with Respect , and one has just the same Defer- ence shewn one here by being a Stranger as in England by being a Lady . The Custom House Officers at Port St. Denis , as we ...
Contents
1 | |
Part II Nature observed | 67 |
Part III A continental vision | 141 |
Part IV War peace and humanity | 219 |
Chronology | 289 |
Credits | 291 |
Index | 297 |
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