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.