Benjamin Franklin Enlightenment Thinker

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.

Ben Franklin became famous for being a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, and a librarian. Today, we honor Ben Franklin as one of the men who founded America and as one of America's greatest citizens.

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

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most successful founding fathers of our nation and helped establish American independence from Great Britain. He was a key member in the development of the political backbone that has shaped this country into what it is today. Benjamin Franklin was one of the most humble and inspirational figures of that time. He was a major factor in the outcome of the war of Independence and in his selfless actions of leaving his family, won the help from the French to assist America in the fight against England. Although Benjamin Franklin never made it to be president he was a leader among his peers. He invented many things that we still use today such as the library, bifocals, and the postal service. He helped

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

Brands, H.W.. The first American: the life and times of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Doubleday,

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.

If ever a story embodied what has come to be known as the American Dream, it is the life story of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin could be considered a passionate and energetic man who motivated himself by self-determination and a strong work ethic to achieve self-improvement. Beyond his sometimes-lofty personal aspirations to attain self-improvement, Franklin’s deep conviction inspired him to help others live well. He demonstrated this conviction in his reasons for writing, his willingness to portray his mistakes as well as his successes as a means of instruction, his recounting of the assistance he gave to others, and his desire to create useful solutions. Franklin successfully used his story to depict this

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 is revered by Americans as one of its most revered and adored founding fathers. For foreigners, Benjamin Franklin became the very icon of America, not only because he was accomplished, but because he was a new man, a man that could only have been made in America. Franklin came to be seen as the embodiment of American values.

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.

Ben Franklin was a prolific writer that wrote an autobiography on his pain to achieve moral perfection. He wrote this because he believes that if he follows these 13 steps that he made up flawlessly, he will be on a route to becoming a perfect man. One of the steps was justice which means omitting the benefits that are on duty. The other is silence which basically means to speak only to benefit one another for help, meaning don’t speak just to talk.