Ben Franklin's Virtues

Benjamin Franklin was an ingenious man. Credited with the invention of the stove, the library, the lightening rod, the postal office, and much more (Divine). He also was an influential political figure that affected the Constitution and was the oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence. Ben Franklin also was a great writer. From Poor Richard's Almanac to articles in newspapers, Franklin's writings appeared every where in colonial America (Divine). With all of those praises, you would think the man would have some major short comings or some sort of character flaw. Franklin broke the mold and did not have any character problems. He actually tried to better his character into something that he could be more proud of. Franklin knew that he could improve himself and become a better person and have better qualities. Those characteristics or virtues became the basis idea behind his System of Thirteen Virtues (Franklin 149-150).

The thirteen virtues that Franklin selected not only are things that he personally needed to work on, but things that he believed every man should exhibit. The thirteen virtues were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. Humility was the virtue that Franklin added in later as his "Quaker friend" pointed out to him that he was a very proud man and that Franklin's pride "showed itself frequently in conversation" (Franklin 162). By realizing the problem and understanding that to fix it, he had to put in hard work, Franklin slowly chipped away at his pride until he could have a conversation with someone without it showing or demeaning someone. The other twelve virtues consisted of things that Franklin knew were the success to a happy, successful, likeable life.

Franklin was successful in making himself a better person for two reasons. The first is that he went through his Virtue System religiously and for several years, and the other is that they actually improved his life. To actually follow through with that large and complex plan is a testament to Ben Franklin's character. Not everyone finishes what they start out to do, let alone for years. The thirteen virtues aided out Franklin with than just character; his lifestyle was increased. Franklin believed that temperance attributed to his "long continued life", frugality to his riches and acquisition of his fortune, and sincerity and justice added to his patriotism and belief that the country is fair and honorable (Franklin 159-160). The virtue of order gave Franklin the most trouble, but also brought the best reward (Franklin 157). Franklin's definition of order was "Let all your things have their place; let each part of your business have its time" which means that his goal was to separate out his day so business and pleasure did not mix (Franklin 149). To aid in that quest, Franklin created an hour by hour schedule of his day to ensure that not only every minute was productive, his activities were ordered so that his priorities were straight. Keeping to that schedule proved difficult as Franklin realized that it was hard to end all work at a certain time as sometimes events happen at different parts of the day and someone might bring in something to get published or have something for Franklin to do after the allotted work hours were over. He did improve on all of the virtues as the cycles were completed.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 31. Oct. 2011.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Altemus, 1895. Print.

Deist Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was not a man of great faith, but did think of himself as religious (Franklin 144-145). He believed that their was a Deity that made the world, the soul was immortal, all good deeds are rewarded either "here or hereafter", and Franklin believed those beliefs were the core of all religions (Franklin 145). Because he believed the aforementioned things are involved in all religions, he tolerated all of America's religions. Franklin is an excellent example of a Deist because his beliefs hold true with the definition of Deism: "holding the belief that God is consistent with human reason, but not with the beliefs of specific religions that claim truth on the basis of divine revelation" (Quinn). Franklin never mentioned anything about reincarnation, God interfering with everyday lives, God using people to show His great powers, or Jesus living on through or inside of people (Christian belief), but based off the Autobiography. Franklin did mention that the people he wanted to model himself after were Jesus and Socrates (Franklin 150). He did not say the son of God, Jesus Christ. Franklin just said the man Jesus which reinforces that Franklin was a Deist.

Through Deistic beliefs, Franklin better himself with a Book of Virtues. Each of the thirteen virtues helped him become a better person in all aspects of his life. Deists had to create their own standard of living as they believed that God had not and will not interfere with the Earth and He did not put a model of behavior on the planet (Deists believed that Jesus was just a man, a great man, but flesh and blood regardless) to base their lives upon (Imbarrato). Franklin chose thirteen virtues that he need to either work on personally or knew that those were things that every man should strive to exemplify (Franklin 150-151). Using those virtues Franklin made himself a better person, but not because some God or Goddess told him too. He did it purely for himself. Franklin included a prayer to God in his Book of Virtues to help to keep him on the right track (Franklin 155). He did so because Deists believe that God created the world and then left it be in a sort of watchmaker like effect (Imbarrato). In being the Creator, God is all powerful and all knowing. That is why Franklin wrote a prayer asking for His wisdom and strength as he goes on a journey to better himself with his virtue system (Franklin 155).

In a different part of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin states that he was raised as a Presbyterian, but found their beliefs of "the eternal decree of God, election, reprobation, etc" "unintelligible" and questionable (Franklin 144). It was at that point in his life that Franklin became a Deist and started contemplating how to make his life more productive and better in a general sense. The switch in view points showed Franklin's open mind. He was not only able to physically change his way of living, but also kept an open and tolerant mind toward people who did not share the same beliefs.


Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Altemus, 1895. Print.

Imbarrato, Susan Clair, and Carol Berkin. "Deism." Encyclopedia of American Literature, Revised Edition: Settlement to the New Republic, 1608–1815, vol. 1, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 25. Oct. 2011.

Quinn, Edward. "Deism." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 25. Oct. 2011.

Journal 14 - Franklin's Apprentice

If I was alive during the Colonial times and Ben Franklin chose me to be his apprentice, then I would be a happy person. Franklin would open up so many possibilities. He was a Renaissance man and I would learn many different trades. Plus I could have the opportunity to have my name preserved in history alongside Franklin as the co- inventor or assistant of the stove, or the library, or the lightening rod, or the fire department, or anything from the long list of things that he invented. Franklin accomplished so much during his life time. Just to meet him would be an honor. If I was his apprentice, I could have attended the Constitutional Congress with him as his aide because he was elderly and might not have been able to keep adequate notes or write down what the different people were saying. Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence! To have witnessed all of the men signing that, and possibly touching one of the most important pieces of paper in the United States of America's history would have been amazing!

But I am a girl. I would have been lucky during Colonial times to get a formal education that might rival one of my male peers. To be Ben Franklin's apprentice? Ha! Women could not hold jobs, so what was the need to have an apprenticeship for? Even after the Revolutionary War, women could not vote or hold a position in the government. The only right that women had was to divorce their husbands and to own land in some states. Maybe I could befriend Franklin's apprentice and hear all about it from him. Or if I married an influential man who knew Franklin, then maybe under the radar I could talk to Franklin and learn from him or assist him in his projects. But if I were to chose a man to have an apprenticeship with during Colonial times, it would be Franklin as had the most variety with his talents and was remembered in history for many different things (as opposed to Alexander Hamilton who was remembered for being a Federalist and for being the genius behind the American banking system).

Journal 13 - American Dream

Today's American Dream is much different than what it was in the 1700s. Back then the Dream was to be the best person that one could be and to better yourself and your country. Then in the 1800s and 1900s the Dream changed. The American Dream morphed into becoming a successful person and making a name for yourself. Many immigrants came to America to have a better life and to become rich. Sometimes it worked out, but for the majority of the immigrants, their lives were hard. Now the American Dream is different. The Dream has changed to more of an individual goal seeking. Everyone wants to make it to the top, but the sense of companionship is not the same as in colonial times. As economic times change, the definition of successful changes. In the 1700s being successful was having enough food, receiving a good education, having a nice house and nice clothes, and marrying a good man or woman. Jobs were not as important as most sons did whatever trade their fathers were trained in. Jobs were not so much status quo as they are now. In today's time leading a successful life means that you are leaving either above your means (to show high status, even when incurring debt) or living a high standard life off of the money that you make in your successful powerful job. Having a healthy family is no longer a part of the American Dream. Many people now do not have children and are happy with their lives and have fulfilled their dreams. One hundred years from now the American Dream will change again as situations and the environment changes. My American Dream is to have the opportunity to receive an excellent education over the course of my young adult life and to have the opportunity to do whatever I want to do, whether it is go up into space and visit other planets (and maybe other races? That is the Trekkie in me talking) or designing a warp drive.

Journal 12 - Right or Wrong

If I had the opportunity to decide what was right or wrong I would probably decline the opportunity. That is a very large responsibility. But if I did have to make right or wrong rules then this is what I would do: It is right to listen to your elders and those in higher power than you, but it is wrong for those elders and people in power do abuse that respect and take advantage of the younger ones. It is right to learn as much knowledge as one possibly can to better oneself, but it is wrong to deny others of that knowledge or the opportunity to learn. It is right to respect fellow human beings, and it is wrong to take advantage of them.

Wow, these sound like commandments. I did not mean for my rules to be so strict, but the rules have to be said because if they are not documented people will take advantage of other people. For some informal rules, it is wrong to kill, steal, or disrespect. It is also wrong do abuse drugs and alcohol, although in moderation alcohol is socially acceptable. That should be common sense, but as the Founding Fathers found out not all people have the same idea about what is right and wrong. I know that stealing is wrong, but some people do it anyway and do not think twice about it. Everyone has their own opinion of right and wrong which is why everyone's rights are physically written down in the Bill of Rights. The Ten Commandments is also a recorded set of things that are right and wrong. If one person thinks it is okay to steal from another, a different person can look at the Commandments and see that it is wrong to steal from others and use the Commandments as a guide for what is right and what is wrong. For a nerdy example, the Prime Directive tells explorers when it is okay to interfere with a new race of people or a newly found society. Those guidelines tell what is right and wrong in a situation. But as all rules can, people interpret them differently. Which is why it boils down to each individual's sense of right and wrong.

Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin is definitely not from the Puritan time period. His autobiography does not involve God or the Bible (although the first house he sleeps in is a Quaker house of worship), nor did he reference religion in the describing the people's day to day activities, instead contributing it to the "spirit of Independence" (Franklin 107-108). As Franklin did not share beliefs with the Puritans, it is easy to compare differences. Franklin was a Deist, a man whose philosophies are reason and natural laws dominate the world, as opposed to William Bradford or Mary Rowlandson who were Puritans and believed in similar things as Catholics, but without the tainted clergy of the English Catholic faith (Divine). Mary Rowlandson knew that the "elect", or God's saved people, will aid her in her time of need as they will pray for her (Rowlandson 83). Benjamin Franklin took heart in the fact that other people will help him out through the goodness of their hearts and the united feeling of freedom and independence the colonists shared (Franklin 108). William Bradford was a leader like Franklin, but Bradford led through God. He saw signs of God everywhere: the sailor's death, the six "elect" people taking care of the contagious sick people (Bradford 15, 65). Franklin led the colonists through Rationalism, or logical thinking and reasoning abilities (Divine). He made decisions based on facts and research (I do believe I sense a Green personality) and was a great philosopher. Franklin was a scientist who invented many things, a writer whose works are still read today, and a politician who is read about in history class (Franklin 104). Franklin led with his mind, while Bradford led with his heart and soul (Jesus lives in everyone's heart, or so I am told by priests and souls go to Heaven when the body dies, therefore I chose those body parts to personify for this statement). Mary Rowlandson draws strength from her faith and the fact that God was looking out for her (Rowlandson 83). Franklin draws strength from the fact that his fellow man will go the extra mile to better himself and seek out freedom and independence (Franklin 108).

The Rationalism period differs from the Puritan writing period as the times in the country have changed. No longer is it a struggle to stay alive in the harsh winters and fight off the "savage" Indians for land in America (Divine). In Franklin's time cities were flourishing and the British helped fend off (sort of, see the AP US text book for reasons why the British failed in that aspect as I could rant about that for a long period of lines) the Indians (Divine). The environment in which Mary Rowlandson grew up and endured as an adult greatly varied in comparison with Ben Franklin. Rowlandson was captured by Indians and had to march from location to location, selling what she could to scrape by with small amounts of food (Rowlandson 84). Franklin came from a poor family of seventeen children, but made himself a better person and took advantage of every opportunity that came his way (Franklin 104). If business ventures like the ones that Franklin was involved in were around during Rowlandson's time (and assuming she was not captured by Indians, although she did have a nice little business going for her), then maybe her life could have been different. But because it was not we got a nice piece of literature by the name of "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" that reflected her point of view in the Puritan time period in which she was alive during.


Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal 11 - Aphorism

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." That is Murphy's Law and is absolutely true (hence the law suffix as opposed to a theory). Those short eight words summarize so much in life. While the aphorism is a law of physics, it still applies to real life. Last year in Principles of Engineering (POE) we made a marble sorter out of Fischertechniks. The programming was sound as well as all of our mechanical parts and hopper. In theory everything should have been fine and dandy. In our test runs, my group encountered no major problems with the sorting and everything was working as it should. But of course, when the time came for the sorting to be graded, the marble sorter had glitches and funny things happened. Mr. Conklin and the rest of the class knew that my group's sorter works, as they had seen it many times before. But as Murphy;s Law states, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Our sorter developed a temper and any time Mr. Conklin came near it with a clip board and rubric, the marbles got stuck on the track, the arms did not go up and down properly, the light sensor read the marble as a wrong color. But as soon as we fixed things and ran it again it was fine. At least until the rubric came near it.

One of my favorite ancient aphorisms is "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts". I have read the Iliad several times and in it Laocoön said the aforementioned aphorism. Homer technically wrote it down, but both share credit. In the Iliad the Greeks brought a large wooden horse, a Trojan horse, in front of the gates of Troy. Of course the Greek soldiers led by Odysseus were inside of the horse, waiting until the Trojans were sleeping to attack, but no one listen to poor Laocoön. In the book that I am reading, The Son of Neptune, Greek and Roman demigods meet for the first time in centuries. One of the Romans warned, "beware of Greeks bearing gifts" when a large floating ship, the Argo II, flew over their camp. I thought it was ironic that I was reading about aphorisms while learning about them in English.

Thomas Paine

"The Crisis, No. 1" is a very important piece of writing in the Revolutionary Period in America. Thomas Paine, who wrote "The Crisis, No. 1" also wrote the pamphlet that started the rebellion that led to the Revolutionary War, "Common Sense" (Divine). After the Revolutionary War had started Paine wrote the first "Crisis" (Paine 132). The pamphlet was very influential at that time. General George Washington"ordered that this first pamphlet be read out loud at every military campground" (Paine 132). Paine wrote very persuasively toward his idea of independence against England. If his writings were not persuasive propaganda, then we would not be reading the pamphlets today. Similar to Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine expressed his idea eloquently through his writing with enough good points to hide the name calling propaganda and faulty logic (Paine 134-136).

Thomas Paine's "The Crisis, No. 1", is an example of a Rationalist piece of writing because of two main things: his skepticism of European ideas and the "absolute right of monarchs to rule their countries" (Boucquey). Paine is skeptical about England having the right to impose taxes on its colony (Paine 134). The majority of European countries tax their all territories whether they are colonies or not (Divine). But what makes America's case different is the fact that England viewed the American colonies with a state of salutary neglect, or completely ignored them. It was not until England saw how create a crop that tobacco was and then became in a huge amount of debt, that they threw the salutary neglect out the window and became involved in the colonists' lives. The loss of independence was a shock for the colonists who were used to being on their own (Divine). That is why the taxation was such a big deal to the colonists; they never had outside forces impacting their lives. I would not like it if England suddenly told me that they spent a ton of money losing a war against France and need my help (even if I had to pay part of the bill already as the Seven Year's War was fought on American soil and now my colony is in debt) to pay it because it is my "civil duty" to help the mother country (Divine). Thomas Paine agreed with my opinion and made it clear that the colonists needed to "lay their shoulders to the wheel... when so great an object is at stake" (Paine 136).

Paine completely believes that England does not have the right to have an "absolute rule" over the colonies, as in the phrase"tyranny, is like Hell" referring to the English rule in America (Paine 134). An ocean separates America from Britain and that wide gap is the difference of independence and British rule. If the colonies would have been in, say Spain, then England would have direct access and dictate the colonists' lives. But because of the Atlantic Ocean, the colonists had to have self- reliance as they could not wait months for a decision to get to England, be made, then sailed back. The whole "Crisis, No. 1" is about persuading the colonists to join the fight because the English are taking over the colonies, and it is not acceptable. Washington had it read to his troops because Paine's points were so concise and influential that even a Tory would have wanted to join the fight (Paine 132).


Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "Rationalism." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web 21. Sept. 2011.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 132-136. Print.