Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings from Benjamin Franklin

318 Pages·2006·0.896 MB·English

by  Benjamin Franklin, Edmund S. Morgan

Not your usual founding father.
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Not your usual
founding father.
Selected Readings from Benjamin Franklin
Edited by Edmund S. Morgan
Yale university press, new haven and london.
Copyright ∫ 2006 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This
book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including
illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by
Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by
reviewers for the public press), without written permission
from the publishers.
Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Monotype Fournier
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. and printed in the United States
of America by R. R. Donnelley & Sons.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–1790.
Not your usual founding father : selected readings from
Benjamin Franklin / edited by Edmund S. Morgan.
p. cm.
Includes index.
isbn-13: 978-0-300-11394-5 (alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-300-11394-3 (alk. paper)
1. Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–1790—Archives. 2. Franklin,
Benjamin, 1706–1790—Correspondence. 3. Franklin,
Benjamin, 1706–1790—Philosophy. 4. United States—Politics
and government—To 1775—Sources. 5. United States—Politics
and government—1775–1783—Sources. 6. United States—
Politics and government—1783–1789—Sources. 7. United
States—Social life and customs—18th century—Sources.
8. Statesmen—United States—Archives. I. Morgan, Edmund
Sears. II. Title.
e302.f82 2006
973.3—dc22 2006045706
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
frontispiece:
Jean-Antoine Houdon, Portrait bust of Benjamin Franklin
(detail), 1779
To Nan Elizabeth Norene

Contents.
Preface xi
p a r t i The Man 1
1 The Young Man and the Old Man 5
Journal of a Voyage, 1726 To George Whately, 1785
2 Friendship and Flirtation 25
Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion, 1750 To
Catharine Ray, 1755 To Mary Stevenson, 1767 To Anna
Mordaunt Shipley, 1771 To Madame Brillon, 1778 Abigail
Adams on Madame Helvétius, 1784 To Emma Thompson, 1777
3 The Uses of Laughter 45
The Speech of Miss Polly Baker, 1747 Leaping Whales, 1765
Remarks Concerning the Savages of North-America, ca. 1783
4 Religion 58
To Josiah and Abiah Franklin, 1738 To Joseph Huey, 1753 To
Jane Mecom, 1758
p a r t i i Nature Observed 67
5 Sickness and Health 71
On the Benefits of Moist Fresh Air, 1773 On Fresh Air, 1785 The
Open Window: From the Autobiography of John Adams, 1776 To
Benjamin Vaughan, 1786 Mesmerism, 1784
[viii] contents
6 Wind, Weather, and Air 79
To Jared Eliot, 1750 To Peter Collinson, 1755 To Edward
Nairne, 1780–83 To James Bowdoin, 1758 To Sir Joseph Banks,
1783
7 Ships and the Sea 96
On the Motion of Vessels, 1784–85 The Gulf Stream, 1784–85
Advice for Travelers, 1784–85
8 Electric Fire 112
Note on the Similarities Between Electricity and Lightning, 1749
Experiment to Determine Whether the Clouds That Contain Lightning
Are Electrified, 1750 Joseph Priestley’s Account of Franklin’s Kite
Experiment, 1752 How to Secure Houses, &c. from Lightning, 1753
Of Lightning, and the Method . . . of Securing Buildings and Persons
from Its Mischievous E√ects, 1767 To Peter Collinson, 1753
9 Geology and Cosmology 132
To the Abbé Soulavie, 1782 Loose Thoughts on a Universal Fluid,
&c., 1784–88
p a r t i i i A Continental Vision 141
10 The Colonies and the Empire 143
On Transported Felons, 1751 Felons and Rattlesnakes, 1751
Thoughts on Immigrants, 1751 Observations Concerning the Increase
of Mankind, 1751
11 Ethnic Pride and Prejudice 158
Indians and Germans, 1753 To Joshua Babcock, 1772 To John
Waring, 1763 The Speech of Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, 1790
12 Join or Die 170
To James Parker, 1751 The Albany Plan of Union, 1754 The
Interest of Great Britain Considered [Canada Pamphlet], 1760
contents [ix]
13 The Vision Challenged 185
To Peter Collinson, 1764 To William Franklin, 1765 Peace Is
Sought by War, 1766 Franklin’s Examination Before the Committee
of the House of Commons, 1766
14 The Empire at Risk 199
To David Hall, 1766 To William Shirley, 1754 On the Disputes
with America, 1767 New Fables, 1770 To Samuel Cooper, 1770
An Edict by the King of Prussia, 1773 To Joseph Galloway, 1775
To David Hartley, 1775
p a r t i v War, Peace, and Humanity 219
15 Independence 221
To Jonathan Shipley, 1775 To Joseph Priestley, 1775 To Admiral
Lord Howe, 1776 Sketch of Propositions for a Peace, 1776
16 Poor Richard’s Diplomacy 232
Comparison of Great Britain and America as to Credit, 1777 John
Adams’s Diplomatic Blunders, 1780
17 A Huckstered Peace 242
To James Hutton, 1778 Notes for a Conversation with Richard
Oswald, 1782 Proposals for Diminishing the Occasions and
Mischiefs of War, 1782 Thoughts on Privateering, 1782 Thoughts
Concerning the Sugar Colonies, 1782 To William Strahan, 1784
The Costs of War, 1787
18 The Pretensions of Wealth 254
Thoughts on the House of Lords, 1775 Convention Speech on
Salaries, 1787 Property Rights and Human Rights, 1785 The
Moral Obligation of Taxes, 1783 Queries and Remarks on ‘‘Hints
for the Members of the Pennsylvania Convention,’’ 1789
19 America 271
Arthur Lee’s Conversation with Franklin About the Miracle of the
Revolution, 1777 To Sarah Bache, 1784 Information to Those