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. |
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Page viii
... Electric Fire 112 Note on the Similarities Between Electricity and Lightning , 1749 Experiment to Determine Whether the Clouds That Contain Lightning Are Electrified , 1750 Joseph Priestley's Account of Franklin's Kite Experiment , 1752 ...
... Electric Fire 112 Note on the Similarities Between Electricity and Lightning , 1749 Experiment to Determine Whether the Clouds That Contain Lightning Are Electrified , 1750 Joseph Priestley's Account of Franklin's Kite Experiment , 1752 ...
Page xii
... electrical experiments and observations that made him famous throughout the world , in his forties when he dedicated himself to a public career that would last for the rest of his life . He was seventy when he helped write the ...
... electrical experiments and observations that made him famous throughout the world , in his forties when he dedicated himself to a public career that would last for the rest of his life . He was seventy when he helped write the ...
Page xiii
... electricity. His questions and answers about other things that puzzled him did not have as far-reaching results but show us the man's restless mind, continually challenged by the wonders of everyday life. The last two parts of the ...
... electricity. His questions and answers about other things that puzzled him did not have as far-reaching results but show us the man's restless mind, continually challenged by the wonders of everyday life. The last two parts of the ...
Page 27
... electricity . He had been elected to the Royal Society , England's most prestigious scientific organization , before he arrived in London . In 1759 the University of St. Andrews in Scotland conferred an honorary doctorate on him ...
... electricity . He had been elected to the Royal Society , England's most prestigious scientific organization , before he arrived in London . In 1759 the University of St. Andrews in Scotland conferred an honorary doctorate on him ...
Page 68
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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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