Benjamin Franklin : An Archetypal American

Benjamin Franklin notably contributed to the period of religious revival known as the Great Awakening. Being a printer, he was well acquainted with the texts of different religious sects, because much of the material printed at the time were Bible texts. Franklin represents a quintessential ideal of how to achieve success through education. His pursuit of perfection was driven by the values instilled in him by his Puritan father as

The image and the values promoted in Franklin's autobiography would later come to be regarded as essential American virtues: determination, industriousness, and self-sufficiency. It was purportedly these virtues which led to his great practical accomplishments in publishing, politics, and science. In a sense, Franklin's autobiography was the first exposition of the now-famous American Dream.

“Though I am still of opinion that it, was a practicable scheme, and might have been useful, by forming a good number of citizens: and I was not discouraged by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking as I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes and accomplish great affairs among mankind (pg. 106).” Benjamin Franklin is an archetypal American because everybody wants to be just like him. He wrote this book to show the right way to become the perfect American. Also, he wrote this autobiography to explain to his son and to other people about how to be the ideal American. Benjamin Franklin became a deism because it helped him become more open-minded. A deism is a person that believes that god created the

The essay Citizen Ben: A worldly American’s Seven Great Virtues by Walter Isaacson is an essay begins talking about Benjamin Franklin. When we think of Benjamin Franklin our minds automatically turn to the story about him flying a kite in a lightening storm with a rod on to prove that lightening was electricity. This is one thing that Franklin did but he did many more as well, in fact it says that he was an inventor diplomat, writer and business strategist. He helped bring the country that we live in today about. There are many views on him that show him in a good light and some that show him in a bad light. There are some that saw that he was shallow and didn’t show great

To begin with, Benjamin Franklin was born January 17th, 1706. He was born to Josiah and Abiah Franklin, as the 15th of 17 kids. He went to school until age 10, at which time his father pulled him out and started him at his candle making business. Benjamin did not find joy in making candles, so Josiah decided that Benjamin should be James’, (one of Ben’s older brothers,) apprentice. James was a printer, and helped print articles and letters in the local newspaper. Benjamin enjoyed this job much more, and strived to get his work published. His work was turned down time and time again, so he took on a pseudonym called, ‘Mrs. Silence Dogood’. He left these letters made by ‘her,’ under the door to the printers shop. James published these, unaware that these were the makings of Benjamin. He found out after 15 letters, and was furious. Benjamin ran away afterward.

“Three may keep a secret if one of them is dead.” Many people know the saying but do not know the man behind it. People from all over the eastern hemisphere came to the new world but none have made as big or great an impact as Benjamin Franklin. He was a pioneer in the field of science. Franklin was a skilled and widely-known writer. Benjamin Franklin was a hard working politician. Benjamin Franklin’s work in science, his involvement in politics, and his writings created a better society in colonial America.

Benjamin Franklin believed in developing an America that respected all religions and thought the best of each and every other one. He believed that a

Franklin practical, but perfect, who worked very hard and achieved tremendous success, record the proceedings early in his famous "biography". He was a writer, and owner of a printing press, and Publisher, and a scholar, and a man of charity, and the most personal fame and respect in his day. He was the first great self-made man in America, was born in a poor democratic era of aristocratic splendid likeness helped edit.

Franklin was involved in many well-known public projects. In 1731 he founded what was probably the first public library in America, chartered in 1742 as the Philadelphia Library. He first published Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1732, under the pen name Richard Saunders. This volume quickly gained a reputation for its practical wisdom. In 1736 Franklin became clerk of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the next year he became the deputy postmaster of Philadelphia. About this time, he organized the first fire company in that city and introduced methods and ideas for the improvement of street paving and lighting. Always interested in scientific studies, he devised a means to correct undue smoking of chimneys and invented, around 1744, the Franklin stove, which furnished greater heat with a reduced consumption of fuel.

Franklin may have started at the bottom but he soon worked his way to the top. He had many jobs in his lifetime. Helping his father in his candle shop was one of Franklin’s first jobs. However, he became bored with his work at his father’s candle shop and soon moved to Philadelphia. Upon arriving to Philadelphia Franklin began working as a printer assistant. It did not last long though and soon he was looking for another job. This is when Benjamin Franklin began to work for the Pennsylvania Gazette, an extensive newspaper. He soon sold the paper though to venture into other endeavors. Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, printers assistant, politician, scientist as well as other things.

In spite of the fact that Franklin was hardly a puritan, he was nevertheless very much a child of the Puritans. This is not displayed merely in his promotion of the virtues, but in his abstaining from excessiveness in eating, drinking, conversation, or whatever. Franklin is strongly influenced with self-governance In numerous ways, this is, to someone coming to it for the first time, a very amazing book. Franklin is, of course, one of the most celebrated Americans who ever lived, and his credentials in a wide arrangement of endeavors are a part of American knowledge and popular history. A great deal of this knowledge and numerous of his accomplishments are missing from this account of his life. He never finished the autobiography, earlier in his life on account of the fact that he was too engaged with what he terms public employment’s, and later in life by virtue of the opium he was taking for kidney stones left him incapable to concentrate adequately. Had Franklin been able to write about every period of his life and all of his achievements, his autobiography would have been one of the most exceptional and outstanding documents every produced. It is astonishingly imperious. However, his record as an office-holder is stained by the use he made of his position to advance his relatives. He was one of the most important statesmen in the new America and was a historical figure who shaped our nations history. He was a very

Having been born in the first month of the year 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin has been regarded an iconic figure not only in the history of America but as well as the world.1 Although he had a deep passion for reading, he could only manage to attend school for two years. He then joined his brother at the age of 12 in apprenticeship at a shop. At the age of 15 people were reading his very first newspaper in Boston. It is after his letters had become a hit that he declared to be the writer. His brother, James, got furious about his writing so he had to run away to Philadelphia at the age of 17. His love for experiments could be seen at an early age for he carried out an experiment on kites during a lighting storm. This one was in regards to lighting and power. Franklin was a famous politician as well as a civil activist during the Enlightenment Era that took place in North America. He was widely known as he played his role as the Ambassador to France and the effort he made to acquire French military assistance when the American Revolution was ongoing. Among other achievements, Benjamin was among the Founding Fathers that put their signatures for the Declaration of Independence besides helping in the drafting of the United States Constitution. Besides being approachable and self-effacing, Benjamin Franklin was an extremely brilliant person.2 he was first a businessman as well as a scientist although he later got involved in civics and politics.

Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography is an inspiring tale of his personal, as well as public achievement throughout his life. Franklin’s life embodies the exemplary model of a life composed of discipline, self-reliance and self improvement. From his humble beginnings as an apprentice candle and soap maker in his father’s business to a successful business man, author, philosopher, civil activist, politician scientist, inventor, and diplomat, above all Benjamin Franklin was, and still is, an American Icon and truly a pioneer of the American Dream.

Ben Franklin’s autobiography is a prime example of the American Dream. He starts life in a large family and is sent to find work fairly early. He grows into an educated, humble, and honorable man. Through his work in printing and writing he develops a formidable business and makes some money. Throughout his life he focuses greatly on achieving perfection, but finds that is not very practical, however it does lead him to happiness. He wrote this autobiography as a path, to live a life of virtue, mainly for his son. However, it has become a moral guide and tale of the so called American Dream. While there are several ways to interpret his writing and his character, Benjamin Franklin is one of the best examples of a pure and honest American.

The story of Franklin as the self-made man begins with him being the first man who rose from poverty to prominence. No one else in American history started out so low and gradually ended up so high. After Franklin no man could claim to be self-made without producing his own unlikely beginnings and becoming a prominent man. His story as a self-made man began with his interest and talents as a writer. In his Autobiography he talks about his path to prosperity “one who would thrill later generations even as they misinterpreted’ ( ). The first page explains that the future generations might take interest in his life in account of having emerged from the state of “affluence and same degree f reputation in the world” (). Franklin the printer and self-made man became a figure of American History..