Benjamin Franklin Flashcards
1
Q
opening
A
- Writing to William
- summer of 1771 on vacation in a small town about 50 miles south of London
- wants to repeat and fix life but he can’t so he resolves to recording it and thanking god
2
Q
family ancestry
A
- youngest son of a youngest son for 5 generations
- named after uncle Benjamin
- Franklins have always been an active clan
- His father, Josiah Franklin, moved from England to America in 1682 with his wife and three children.
- He had four more children with that wife
- and ten more children with Abiah, whom Josiah married after his first wife died.
- Ben 15th of 17 children, was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.
3
Q
Bens early life
A
- was sent to grammar school instead of apprentice to go into the church
- rose to top of class and moved to another school to develop writing and math skills as well
- age 10 he was taken out to work with his father making candles and soap
- interested in the sea but prohibited from being a sailor, convinced his friend to make wharf out of stones from the quarry
- learned lesson on dishonesty
4
Q
Bens parents
A
- respected his father
- taught him skills of debate
- Had them buried in graveyard with other famous people
- disliked his fathers trade so josiah found him a job working at a printing place at age 12 for 8 years
- around same time acquired collins, a bookish lad
- Josiah helped ben with his writing through a newspaper, the specter, he mimicked method in the arrangement of thoughts
5
Q
Teen years
A
- vegetarianism
- skepticism towards religion
- effort to become more humble, speaking “with seeming diffidence”
6
Q
1720
A
- James started new England courant= second newspaper
- Franklin worked as a delivery boy
- worked hard at writing and anonymously published an article
- Fought with james
- Franklin took over the paper when James was jailed for political reasons
- Ben broke his contract and quit his job on bad terms and James told every other paper not to hire him
- Had to move to another city
- at age 17 he secretly went to New York
- Find no job so goes to Philidelphia to work for Andrew Bradford
- On his way to Phili he gets caught in a storm and saves the life of a drunken Dutchman who nearly drowned
- arrived in the city on October 6, 1723 in the Market Street Wharf
7
Q
When Franklin first gets to philidephia
A
- Stays with some Quakers
- Goes to find work with Bradford but he can only provide housing, not work
- Sets up Franklin with Keimer who runs a different printing shop
- Thinks both men are poor printers
- moves in with John read whose daughter Deborah, he would marry
8
Q
Franklin returns to Boston
A
- receives a letter from Robert Holmes, his brother-in-law, asking him to return
- Franklin wrote an elegant letter back explaining why he would not return to Boston, Holmes showed the letter to Pennsylvania Gov. William Keith , who is moved by Franklin’s strong writing skills
- Keith resolves to help Franklin set up a printing house, and he visits F ranklin at Keimer’s office to discuss such plan
- He will get money from the gov, but he also needs money from his father
- Franklin returns to Boston for several months but his father denies his request because he thinks he’s too young
- Josiah will help when he is 21
- James is still bitter over Ben’s resignation
9
Q
Franklin returns to Philidelphia after going to Boston to ask his dad for money
A
- First visits his brother in RI and nearly falls victim to two thieves posing as women
- Meets with Colins and gov of new york who likes his books
- Colins has become a drunk and Franklin loans him a lot of money on their trip to Phili
- Colins refuses to row on the boat and Franklin pushes him overboard leaving him humiliated
- Decides to work in Barbados and never sees or repays Franklin again
10
Q
Back in Phili after fight with Colins
A
- Tells Keith that his father refused to fund so Keith said he would do it himself
- First travels to England to make acquaintances in the book selling industry
- Meanwhile works with Keimer
- Attempts to Court Ms. Read but his upcoming trip won’t let him marry her
- Befriends 3 “book lovers” (Charles Osborne, Joseph Watson and James Ralph) hold poetry contests and debates
11
Q
On his way to England
A
- Meets a quaker named Mr. Denham
- arrive in London and franklin soon discovers that Keith did not write a letter of recommendation for Ben to make acquaintances with other printers
- ## Denham advises Franklin to get a job at Palmers, a famous printing place, they have fun and go broke many times and he forgets about Read and Ralph forgets about his wife and kids
