The Age of Benjamin Franklin

Description

We all have certain images of Ben Franklin: the witty Founding Father who promoted independence; the Philadelphia printer who created Poor Richard’s Almanack; the scientist who conducted experiments with kites in electrical storms; the author of what is arguably America’s best-known autobiography. These images reveal an intellectually curious and successful man of the 18th century, but they don’t fully capture the rich and multi-faceted genius of one of the most extraordinary Americans—perhaps the quintessential American—in history.

Why is Benjamin Franklin so compelling? What made him so successful in his day? And why has he continued to influence generations of Americans? Tackle these questions and more in The Age of Benjamin Franklin, a thorough—and sometimes surprising—course that presents a full portrait of a personality that defies easy definition. Taught by Professor Robert J. Allison of Suffolk University, these 24 insightful lectures explore the many aspects of Franklin’s life and times.

From his humble beginnings as the son of a Boston soap maker to a world-renowned diplomat, Franklin’s story is the embodiment of the American Dream, characterized by a pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps resolve. It’s the story he tells in his world famous autobiography—a blueprint for becoming a “self-made” man, by combining hard work and following a series of thirteen virtues. What you’ll learn early in this course is the difference between the character of Franklin that he created in his Autobiography, and the far more nuanced—and interesting—reality. For instance:

• He was an Enlightenment thinker with Puritan roots, a friend of the leading thinkers of his time such as Voltaire and the evangelist George Whitfield.
• He was Boston-born and Philadelphia proud, yet he was equally at home in London or Paris.
• He championed intellectual values and wore the leather apron of a working man.
• He possessed a scientific and creative mind, and his inventions include the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and a flexible urinary catheter.
• He was extraordinarily sociable; had a wife, children, a large, extended family, and close friendships with so many women that at least one scholar was inspired to call him “the founding flirt.”
• He was a brilliant writer and humorist. His publication of Poor Richard’s Almanack inspired other American writers like Noah Webster.
• He was highly respected, but not universally beloved in his time (or afterward). Many, like John Adams, questioned Franklin’s moral compass, in politics as well as in his personal life.

In this course, you’ll explore these many sides and more to discover who Benjamin Franklin was, what he believed, and how he conducted himself in business and politics. To better understand Franklin’s unique genius, Professor Allison takes you into his world of the 18th century—an era of political revolution, science and reason, communication and literacy. As Franklin rises to international greatness, you’ll see his countrymen take their own places on the world stage as they shake off the British Empire to form a new nation. Informative, entertaining, and insightful, The Age of Benjamin Franklin takes you into the fascinating life and times of a bona fide American genius.

A Paragon of the Enlightenment

Even if Benjamin Franklin had not gone into politics and had not lived during the American Revolution, it’s likely that he would have found a prominent place in history as a printer, scientist, inventor, and general Enlightenment thinker.

Professor Allison unpacks Franklin’s role as a scientist—or as as it was called at the time, a “natural philosopher”—exploring both the science and the truth behind the famous image of Franklin with the kite in the lightning storm. Although he may be best known as a Founding Father, his work on electricity is an equally grand achievement. As one scholar put it, he found the field of electricity as a parlor trick (something to shock guests at a dinner party), and he left it a science. We owe concepts of positive and negative charge, the battery, the Leyden jar, and more to Ben Franklin.

Professor Allison also delves into Franklin’s many other contributions to history. As you will find out, he had a dizzying series of accomplishments and interests, somehow finding time to:

• Build a national printing business
• Open America’s first library
• Pioneer the development of the post office
• Publish a number of satires
• Invent the Franklin stove
• Help create and codify the science of electricity
• Write a string quartet
• Write one of the first texts about chess published in the U.S.
• Take up swimming

In addition, Franklin traveled the world, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, negotiated for support during the Revolutionary War and for peace following it, served in Congress, helped write the American Constitution, and hobnobbed with the likes of Cotton Mather, George Washington, Jeremy Bentham, David Hume, Voltaire, and countless others. He was a busy, busy man: ambitious, worldly, imaginative, and forward thinking, representing the best output from the Age of Enlightenment.

The Reluctant Politician

No history of Ben Franklin would be complete without an examination of the world around him, and the world of the 18th century was one of major intellectual and political upheaval. Franklin himself had little interest in politics, never seeking office but also—fortunately for us—never stepping away when he was needed.

From the Crisis of 1773, to the Stamp Act and the Tea Act, to the Declaration of Independence, the most challenging moments in early American history required deft negotiations among multiple parties. Franklin—with his rational and worldly mind on one hand, as well as his good humor, canny business experience, and pragmatic sensibilities on the other—was the perfect man for the job. This doesn’t mean he didn’t have his detractors; many thought Franklin was not suited to the job of envoy to Europe due to his humble origins, rakish reputation, and his unconcealed love of London (which he called home for 20 years). Even Franklin’s eldest son William—who had helped his father in his explorations of electricity—eventually became estranged from him when the two could not see eye to eye on American independence. Rumors even spread through certain circles that Franklin was a British double agent. You will venture with him to London and Paris as he negotiates, first for peace with the British Empire and then for support from France during the war, while contending with his own personal struggle with breaking from England and the toll it took on his family.

As you follow these dramatic events, you’ll also gain a sense of the 18th century world, reflecting on:

• The texture of everyday life in Boston and Philadelphia, as well as London and Paris
• The British Empire’s difficulties in governing far-flung colonies
• The role Native Americans such as the Iroquois and the Delaware played in the American colonies
• Race and the slave trade—and its incompatibility with Enlightenment values

Life in the 18th century was fascinating yet messy. In many ways, Franklin, with his boundless energy and curiosity, was the right man for these complicated and challenging times.

A Complex, Absorbing Portrait

With Robert Allison as your guide, you will come to know this outsized figure and the world he inhabited. You’ll discover Franklin was very much the intelligent, hard-working self-made man he presents himself to be in his autobiography. He was also a shrewd and savvy businessman, a canny politician, and a man with his share of enemies and personal conflicts.

Franklin himself wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “Let all men know thee, but let no man know thee thoroughly.” In the end, Professor Allison leaves it to you to evaluate Ben Franklin’s enormous legacy. The man was one of the most notable Americans in history—a pioneer in science, politics, and diplomacy—he was truly a larger-than-life individual. The Age of Benjamin Franklin gives you a rich and entertaining portrait of his life and times.

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