Benjamin Franklin As A Representation Of The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment is when popular Christian preachers in the 1700’s preached to their congregation that freedom does not bestow from the English crown but is bestowed from God. They explained to their people that they had free will to choose what they wanted to do in order to be the best they could be for themselves. This included freedom of commerce, freedom of religion, and freedom of press. The Enlightenment gave people courage because of their faith in God to pursue freedom. Benjamin Franklin guided people in politics and people in the religious fashion and got them together. He helped facilitate the continental congress and other countries that would help support us during the revolutionary war. Franklin helped introduce Enlightenment to America through his readings, his writings, and his actions.

The primary source being discussed is an excerpt from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It was written by Benjamin Franklin discussing the philosophical developments of the Enlightenment, and its implication into his life. Being an autobiography, this selection was published in a book, and was written by its subject. Franklin was a very influential part of the Enlightenment in the colonies, which makes this selection very relevant. This article was written with the intent to further educate the colonists on the Enlightenment and Franklin’s belief.

It is easy to see Benjamin Franklin was no doubt an archetypal American. No one since him has ever had the same amount of success as him. He was a private businessman who made enough money to retire early and to spend the rest of his life in politics. Around this time period only the rich were able to retire early. He was industrious. Franklin continually put forth the idea of the industrious American. He had support from the middle-class who did not care if he was rich but he was a man who was self-made and worked hard. This American attitude was formed early and most of it by him. Franklin was also not judgmental came to decisions and conclusions as a businessman and politician. However, his attitude was non-judgmental with respect to a

“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

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 Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was the root of many ideas of the American expansion; it was an era of intellectual ferment and prosperity that brought reasoning and political science over superstition and blind faith. Benjamin Franklin’s contrast in ideas from that of the puritans are a clear indication of morality and how it is being redefined. Enlightenment thinkers such as Franklin addressed acknowledged information and spread new thoughts regarding transparency, investigation and self-exploration that will create a major turning point in western advancement, an age of light replacing the age of the blind.

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He would be the tenth out of seventeen kids that his dad, Josiah Franklin, would have. His dad had plans for Benjamin to join the church when he became an adult and was sent to language structure school to get ready. He would exceed expectations in perusing at an extremely youthful age however would find that he couldn't ace math so natural. He would be at the linguistic use school for not as much as a year prior to his dad would deal with not having the capacity to bolster a school instruction for Benjamin and supporting whatever is left of the substantial family. Benjamin would then be sent to another school which would show him essential math and English aptitudes. There, he would outperform whatever remains of class in English while in the end fizzling number juggling once more bringing on his dad to draw him from school together (Becker, 1931). At ten years old Benjamin would be

The Enlightenment era was a new intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Even though different philosophers approached their goal differently, they achieved it none the less. They all approached their goal differently due to their different upbringings, their different backgrounds, and most importantly their different environments. A few among the many enlightened thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron Do Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. While some of their idea’s are not used in modern society, they were all instrumental to the modern society we live in today.

By the end of the 17th century, new ideas formed in Europe challenging the faith of the Puritans, during the period of time known as the Age of Reason. Also known as the Enlightenment, it began with philosophers and scientists who called themselves rationalists, believing that one can arrive at truth by using reason, instead of religious faith or intuition. As the Puritans in the past saw God as being active in the involvement of the workings of the universe, the rationalists compared God to a clockmaker, and that God’s gift to humanity was the ability to think in a logical manner. Like the Puritans, rationalists discovered God through the medium of the natural world, but believed in deism, that God made it possible to discover nature laws through their power of reason, given by Him. Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography, is depictive of the Age of Reason because it portrays the fact that Franklin was a self-made person and had to further his own life, rising from poverty to a scientist able to retire at

In the same way, in Franklin’s 1725 work of writing, A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, he admitted that he would have liked to be a philosopher, but he knew that he never fully would be. Through this, he showed his outlook on philosophy and ways to embody and contribute to society without making it a career. For example, Franklin’s scientific innovations set a platform that inspired others in the future. Franklin’s writing impacted the era of the Enlightenment in a way no other writer had done because he stated his philosophies with humor but also with meaning (Kennedy). As Wilson stated, Franklin was a, “...symbol and source of inspiration for the philosophers, and one of the most widely admired foreigners in

Benjamin Franklin observed in 1747, “It has long been regretted as a misfortune to the youth of this province that we have no academy in which they might receive the accomplishment of a regular education,” instead of just perceiving that fact and being disappointed, Franklin decided to act. He noted that Massachusetts had Harvard, established 1636, and Virginia claimed William and Mary, established 1693, he did not want Pennsylvania to fall behind. This prompted him to write an anonymous pamphlet in 1747 entitled, Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. The pamphlet argued for the necessity of a college and urged concerned citizens to donate money toward it. It was not until Franklin wrote his autobiography that the world knew it was he who wrote Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most influential men of the eighteenth century. He was the only man to sign all of these four major documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Constitution of the United States, and the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. Franklin was an inventor, a philosopher, a writer, a musician, and he actively participated in many congressional articles used by the government of the United States of America. His tombstone, however, simply referred to him as "printer", reflecting his great humility. One of the things he was most influential in was the separation of the American colonies from British rule. In fact, Benjamin Franklin was vital to the success of the American

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston. His father, Josiah Franklin, who was a tallow chandler, had seventeen children; Benjamin was the fifteenth child and the tenth son. His mother, Abiah Folger, was his father’s second wife. After he went to grammar school from age eight to ten, Benjamin started working at his father’s business. He didn’t like the work very much, however, and so he began to work for a cutler. When he was just thirteen, he became an apprentice to his brother James, who had just returned from England with a new printing press. Benjamin learned the printing trade, but in his spare time he tried to improve his education. In 1721 his brother

All these ideas were very much in the air in America and no one represented them better than Benjamin Franklin. With Benjamin Franklin as its spokesman, eighteen-century America experienced an age if enlightenment, of reason and order like England and Europe.

It was the year 1706 in Boston, MA when Benjamin Franklin entered the world. Birthed after fourteen other siblings, Franklin's family structure is only one deciding factor in the way that this legendary tale pans out. A hero of American Revolution, this novel depicts 18th century realism accurately while logging Franklin's personal conception on human nature and social community. Many look at Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography as your typical rags to riches tale yet, the truth and falsehood throughout the pages is unknown, raising many questions and concerns. As this book was written in segments over a stretched period of time, we must analyze this account of his life, the struggles and successes which took place, and the outcome of such