The Great American Hypocrisy

The United States of America today has been shaped by the hard work and accomplishments of many leading figures from the past. One of these figures is Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), who was a prominent character that helped form the destiny of the country in the early days. Born in what is now Albemarle County, Virginia, Jefferson had a good upbringing and chose a career as a lawyer. He later joined the Virginia colonial legislature and in 1801, received the title of the third President of United States. As a multifaceted man, Jefferson had great influence on American history as one of the Founding Fathers of America and as the primary author of Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson firmly believed in a disestablished society, where people were allowed to follow their own religion and live in equality. This forward thinking was demonstrated in the Declaration of Independence where Jefferson states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Jefferson Grolier, 2009). In spite of this belief, he owned slaves. Jefferson’s position as a slave owner greatly contradicted his belief in freedom and equality for all human beings. His hypocrisy is further demonstrated through his relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and with his decisions to free some slaves and keep others. Jefferson had a twenty-five year old relationship with Hemings and had many children together. Bruce Fehn from the OAH Magazine of History states “Jefferson probably had an intimate relationship with one of his slaves, while, at the same time, he expressed disgust with such relationships” (Fehn, 2000). He did treat Hemings and other slaves with care, but Hemings had no freedom of choice when it came to their relationship because she could not refuse her owner. Although Jefferson did show compassion towards his slaves, they were still considered as slaves, who worked “toward the profitable management of his plantation” (Fehn, 2000). His decisions to free some slaves and keep others were based on economics, which doesn’t justify his actions because he still treated the slaves as labour and not as human beings.

Thomas Jefferson is considered to be one of the greatest presidents of Unites States and has significantly contributed to the success of today’s American society. He was an intellectual man and sought beauty in all race and religion. However, his thoughts on equality, and actions as a slave owner clashed and proved to be a conflicting paradox. Although, he treated his slaves with genuine care, in the end he was still a slave owner and had the control over other human beings rights and freedom. His relationship with Sally Hemings also took away his credibility as a man who believes in freedom. Jefferson created a foundation for freedom and entrusted his vision towards others for a better future, but unfortunately failed to recognize his own misdeeds and hypocrisy.

Works Cited:

Fehn, Bruce. "Thomas Jefferson and Slaves." OAH Magazine Of History 2000: 24-28.

Organization of American Historians. Oct, 2, 2009. .

"Jefferson, Thomas." America the Beautiful. 2009. Grolier Online. Oct, 3, 2009.

http://atb.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?templatename=topics.html&a
ssetid=atb050b06&assettype=b

The Pary of No Virtues

Benjamin Franklin is an American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer. Born in Boston, he is the only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher; he is best remembered in the United States as a patriot and diplomat. He held five offices during his lifetime. He was the 6th President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 23rd Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1st United States Minister to France, 1st United States Minister to Sweden, and 1st United States Postmaster General.

Benjamin Franklin tried to create a political party in1731 but failed due to the ideas and structure of it. He would have called it the Party of Virtue, which included his 13 virtues and the essential principles of every major religion in America. All men who were in this party had to follow Franklin’s thirteen virtues and believed the basic ideas of the existence of God. These men had to be virtuous, good, and wise to the point they cannot displease God. The reason why this party failed is because everyone is not perfect. No one cannot follow the thirteen virtues and believe in the existence of God and have the knowledge of how powerful God is. The party’s ideas disregards the basic psychological idea that people are complex, people are different, and people react to situations differently. Especially with the situations that were going on in the mid 1700’s, it was almost impossible to follow the structure of the Party of Virtue. Men would have to spend all of their time thinking about the thirteen virtues and coming up with a plan to help others with those virtues. This is why the party of Virtue was abandoned. No men could handle following the ideas of it and living their own lives.

Citation: “Benjamin Franklin.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008 The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press; Ketchan, Ralph Louis, . The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin. reprint. Hackett Publishing, 2003. Print; Franklin, Benjamin, . The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, INC., 1996. Print.

Inventing Benjamin Franklin

On January 17th of the year 1706 Benjamin Franklin was born. He was incredibly ambitious and optimistic as he grew up. His idealism as a youth and his good-natured cynicism as an older man led to the discovery of electricity in lightning, the invention of the fire brigade, the work as Postmaster General, the funding of a hospital, the organization of a street-sweeping force, and many others. He became an American legend responsible for many improvements in American life and for many things that we presently take for granted (Encyclopedia). Although starting the autobiography with the original purpose as guidance it becomes obvious that Franklin continues to write in order to create an image of himself as a great public figure rather than as a great father.

Franklin wanted us to think for ourselves. While following his own advise, he invents a machine that we now know as the cast iron stove. Despite inventing the stove Franklin refuses to patent it because he believed "that as we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others, we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously (Stealing)." As expected someone else patents Franklin's invention. Ramsey points out that, "for Franklin, ideas were a common treasury to be shared by all." In addition, this allows further understanding about Franklin. He was inventive and was not greedy.

His decisions to promote self-thinking, invent things, and not patent his invention all help reveal Franklin's ideals as well as aids in Franklin's goal of becoming great public figure, forever.



"Benjamin Franklin." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Sep. 2009 .Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Mineola: Dover Publicatons, Inc., 1996. PrintRamsey, Colin T. "Stealing Benjamin Franklin's Stove: A New Identification for the "Ironmonger in London." ANQ 20.2 (Spring2007 2007): 25-30. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 23 Sep. 2009

Benjamin Franklin and Small Pox
In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin it is stated that he lost one of his sons to small pox in 1736. Franklin had three children, one illegitimate son named William, one daughter Sarah, and Francis Folger (Wikipedia).
At that point in history inoculations for small pox were possible but they did have their down sides. Inoculations meant that a person was exposed to a small amount of small pox through inhaling ground up scabs from an infected person. This did decrease the outbreaks of small pox by 90%, but it also caused 2% of the people who did get the inoculations to die (Brannnon). Franklin states that he did not get Francis inoculated. He also states that parents should get their children inoculated for small pox. (Franklin 79)
Even today there are arguments about vaccines and if they do more harm than good. It seem that although the risk was higher in the 1700’s it was understood that getting inoculated was better than waiting to see if you got small pox. Franklin thought he made a mistake by not having Francis inoculated and regretted that after Francis died from small pox at four years of age.
Brannon, MD, Heather. “The History of Smallpox.” About.com: Dermatology. September 25, 2004. September 22, 2009.
“Benjamin Franklin.” Wikipedia. September 22, 2009.
Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Dover, 1996

Benjamin Franklin: A Name to be Reckoned With

Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most prestigious founding fathers, left a long legacy of innovations, business triumphs, and philosophical mantras on how to live. A large part of his contributions lies in the modern day public institutions of America, which are ubiquitous in our everyday lives. From his autobiography, we can attribute the development of modern police, fire, military forces, libraries, liberal arts universities, and public hospitals to Franklin’s work.

What is interesting to note is a shift from actual involvement in his early projects to the mere mention of his name ensuring a project succeeds at later points in the chapter. Many of Franklin’s initial achievements followed a pattern: A plan he conjures as a business venture, proposes to the Junto, disseminates to others by means of his press, and expands with his active involvement.

In his later ventures, we see a shift in practice, which him lending his name to projects and petitioning for their success via governmental influence. Jennifer Jordan Baker, in her article argues that:
“Franklin's service entails the public endorsement of projects, and his visible connection to such projects supposedly ensures their success […] Franklin's name has become precious currency.”

We see an example this with Dr. Thomas Bond’s proposal of a public hospital to which Franklin lends his support. Initially, the doctor had attempted to find support on his own, with many asking “Have you consulted Franklin upon this Business? And what does he think of it?” Franklin’s support gets the project approved, and he even obtains private as well as public funding. Accordingly, the plan is executed and the hospital is built quickly. This can be akin to modern political phenomenon of ‘name recognition’ which politicians seek to win office.

We can parallel Franklin’s efforts to today’s politics, where grassroots campaigns evolve into special interest groups and possibly large organizations. What begins as a neighborhood creek cleanup can turn into an environmental lobbying group with sway over politicians elected to office. For a man whose name is almost a rubber stamp of approval, Franklin still exudes a modest persona hoped his writing would “afford hints which at some time or another may be useful to a city I love…”

Works Cited:

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Mineola: Dover Publicatons, 1996.

Baker, Jennifer J. “BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND THE CREDIBILITY OF PERSONALITY.” Early American Literature; Dec2000, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p274, 20p Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Milpitas Community Library. Sep 23, 2009

Influential Man in America

In the early and late eighteen century Benjamin Franklin was a key figure in America. His achievements in science, politics and society were influential. His own principles were epressed when interacting with the colonist and having a profound effect in American culture.
He was self educated and skilled in printing. Understood the power of words and could express him self accordingly. His traits allowed him to influence colonist or at least informed them of larger issue such as abolishing slavery and joining together as one nation. This echoed onto our modern culture. for example "a penny saved is a penny earned' drawn from Franklin "poor Richard's Almanack" years later his publication and letters, that people would keep, show how influential he was to America. He embodied the values of hard work, education, social collaboration int his work. The star one might argue of secularization of Puritan values and becoming engraved as American values.
Over two hundred years Franklin words have influence our culture. What he spoke for was the greater good, In doing so America braces democracy where a large collection of different people can gather and further enhance American culture.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. 1996. Print.

Morgan, Edmuns S. Benjamin Franklin.
Yale University Press. 2002

The Era of Benjamin Franklin

Can some man arrive at moral perfection in this life, or is it impossible? Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706. In his early age, he became more focus in reading and writing. As the years went by, it was clearly seen that writing was a tool through which he could express his ideas and argue points, and helped him to become a successful person later on in life. In 1753, Franklin rise to the top of the mail delivery world, becoming Postmaster General of the United States. Afterwards, Franklin started to turn his attention more and more to "public affairs" and the betterment of society. He was also called one of the founding fathers of the United States of America because he improved the quality of American’s life by doing a lot of public services and inventing the stove. In June, 1776, he became a member of the Committee of Five that drafts the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was also elected to the Second Continental Congress and proposed the first Articles of Confederation. In October 18, 1785 Franklin was elected as the sixth President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, replacing John Dickinson. Franklin died on April 17, 1790, at age 84.

After I red the book The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, this question came up to my mind, "Why are we still reading Benjamin Franklin’s life?" The answer was because the book established in literary form the first example of the fulfillment of the American Dream. For example, Franklin demonstrated the possibilities of life in the New World through his own rise from the lower middle class as a youth to one of the most admired men in the world as an adult. Furthermore, he asserted that he achieved his success through a solid work ethic which was one of the aspects of American Dream.

In the article “The Virtue of Reasonableness”, it implies that Franklin tried to lead his life by following the thirteen virtues (temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility). It also discusses that he followed these virtues because it helped him to indentify what was right and wrong. In addition, this virtues were also thought to be own by puritan’s tradition. He also chose to put the thirteen virtues in his book because he wanted to illustrate the “perfect character” and moral perfection to American.

Work Cited

"Benjamin Franklin." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Sep. 2009 http://www.encyclopedia.com/.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Mineola: Dover Publicatons, Inc., 1996. Print

Forbe, Steven. "The Virtue of Resonableness." Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and the Education of America . The American Political Science Review, Vol. 86, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 357-368 . American Political Science Association . September 16, 2009 .