Benjamin Franklin's Remarks Concerning The Savages Of North America

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

He also portrays the natives with lucid terms so as to shed an innocent light on them in an attempt to instill into his readers why it is so wrong for the Indians to be treated as they are by the Europeans.

There were many people that helped contribute to the Enlightenment, but the most prominent American leader was a well-know political figure named Benjamin Franklin. The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, was period of time when people tried to justify life in terms of scientific theory and rationalism. “The Enlightenment was responsible for inspiring revived interests in education, science, and literature” (“HistoryKing.com”). It also emphasized progression away from traditional customs and foundations

college because the Indians felt that the white man had no moral values when it

American History, it has done so much in time that has affected how we live life today and how we interpret things. American Literature reflects that and all it has left us with. Throughout the stories and passages we’ve read this course all of them have left a impact on how and why the writers wrote about what they did. It was all because of American History which later went on and fathered American Literature. American Literature has made society how it is today and painted a vivid picture of how American’s and people live and many of these writers had that in mind when they took these notes.

“Beans running fine and prices good, so the Indians could be, must be, wrong. You couldn’t have a hurricane when you’re making seven and eight dollars a day picking beans. Indians are dumb anyhow, always were. Another night of Stew Beef making dynamic subtleties with his drum and living, sculptural, grotesques in the dance”(155).

All of the enlightenment thinkers had a variety of different opinions concerning their views on people of other races. Through an array of examples, we can see the various opinions very clearly. The more respected the other races were given the more intelligent and advanced they appear. The philosophers have an array of experience and reasoning for interacting with other races which truly influences how people of races appear at the time.

In the “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” Benjamin Franklin writes about the Native American people and their way of life. In Benjamin Franklin’s essay he shows that the Native American people are far from savages. He explains how they are indeed civilized people. He says “perhaps, if we examine the manners of different nations with the impartiality, we should find no people so rude, as not to have some remains of rudeness.” The reason the Native Americans were called “savages” was because their rules of common civility, religion, laws and culture were different from the American culture and being that we were just socializing we did not understand their way of life.

Published in 1784, Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America, by Benjamin Franklin, explains the division between how the Native Americans were thought of by the European settlers, and indeed, this essay applies to how they are often thought of today. Even though the Europeans thought the natives were uneducated savages, Franklin points out ways they were actually more civilized than the Europeans. An interesting point made in the essay was what the Americans were learning from both church and school. Franklin uses an example of a time when the Native Americans sent a couple of young people to be educated at a white college.

Despite being raised by a Puritan household, Benjamin Franklin was a Deist. Although he did not necessarily agree with the religious views of his parents, or the views of the general population, he was a firm the freedom of choosing one’s own religion, and being able to practice his or her religion in the manner they so desire. Between his writing in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and his letter to Ezra Stiles in 1790, he elucidates not only his personal views on religion, but also his views on other religions the people who practice them.

I really appreciate someone who is willing to improve both self and surroundings. I have many questions in my mind about his works as a moral Renaissance man, and motivation to do these amazing things. However, if I had one question that I could get answered by Mr. Franklin, then it’d be “Did you have any regrets and if so what were

In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin portrays himself as a man of virtue; always working towards self-betterment. The autobiography opens with Benjamin describing how he wants to write down his life for his son to read. Franklin notes if he were to live his life again that there are only a small handful of events that he wished to change. This theme of self-betterment continues through part I and part II. Although Franklin writes how he does not write in vanity, he is able to acknowledge his notable traits such as: leadership, intellectual curiosity, and “reasonable” creature. Franklin often writes himself in contrast to many people, showing the reader how virtuous he is. In part I, Franklin decides to become a vegetarian. He

Throughout the essay, he spoke on Native American culture and how they had great social order and decency without any writing skills. Franklin noted their strong oratorical skills and the ability to retain memory. The Indians offered great hospitality to the Whites when they arrived to their villages such as giving food, water, and any needed traveling supplies. However when the Indians visited the Whites, they were treated indifferently and were forced to pay for their

spiritual and respectful of the land upon which they lived. They were skilled in the ways