1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: On this episode of newch World, as part of Founding 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Father's Week, I'm talking about the lives and legacies of 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,559 Speaker 1: our original founders and the impact they've had in our country. 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,600 Speaker 1: On this episode, I'm going to talk about one of 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: my favorite founding fathers, somebody that, having been born in Hasburg, Pennsylvania, 6 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: spent a large part of my childhood going to Philadelphia 7 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: surrounded by Franklin and the impact he'd made in the world. 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: I've always felt that the breadth of what he did 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: the extraordinary range from business person to publisher, to writer 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: to inventor. Not just inventor in the sense of physical 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: things like lightning rods and bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove, 12 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: but in the sense of inventing the University of Pennsylvania, 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: inventing the Volunteer Fire Department, inventing the American Philosophical Society. 14 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: Franklin had such an extraordinary love for life, such a 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: deep work ethic, and such a cheerful willingness to go 16 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: out and turn ideas into projects and projects into achievements, 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: that there's almost nobody like him. There are lots of 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 1: other people who've done great things, but almost nobody has 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: covered the range from business to politics, to diplomacy, to science, 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: to invention to social leadership that Franklin personified. And so 21 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: I think he's well worth spending some time. And he 22 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: clearly is by any standard and immortal of all of 23 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: the Founding fathers other than George Washington, who literally was 24 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: the moral strength in which America was created and really 25 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: was the father of our country. But of all the 26 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: other Founding fathers except Washington, the one who most deserves 27 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: to be considered an immortal was Benjamin Franklin. You can 28 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: make a case, and some people will for Thomas Jefferson, 29 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: who helped with Franklin to write the Declaration of Independence, 30 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: who became president, but for sheer scale of achievement, for 31 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: range of ideas, for the number of different kinds of contributions, 32 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin literally is an immortal. He also is a 33 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: great sign of what was making America really different because 34 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: he was someone who rose by his own efforts, not 35 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: because he's an aristocrat, not because he'd inherited a lot 36 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: of money, not because he had a unique position, but 37 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: just because he worked really hard and he was really smart, 38 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:59,400 Speaker 1: and the result was because he had this endless interest 39 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,440 Speaker 1: in life that every time he turned around he was 40 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: doing something fascinating, and much of the time he was 41 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: doing things that were historic and that literally changed history 42 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: for all of us. When you wear bifocal glasses, you are, 43 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: after all, dealing with an invention of Benjamin Franklin. When 44 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: you think about having a lightning rod to divert the 45 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: lightning so that your house doesn't burn up, you're dealing 46 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: with an invention of Benjamin Franklin. The whole concept of 47 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: constantly tinkering, constantly learning. The discovery of electricity, which is 48 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: a true story. He goes out he wants to figure 49 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: out how electricity occurs, and so he flies a kite 50 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: in the middle of a thunderstorm and he attaches metal 51 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: so that lightning hits and he suddenly has discovered electricity. 52 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: This was at the time comparable to Einstein in the 53 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: twentieth century discovering relativity. People across the planet were stunned 54 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: that this American had undertaken what if you think about 55 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: it as a very common sense, non theoretical experiment, and 56 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: that is sort of what marks Franklin. He just applies 57 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: common sense with a lot of intelligence. A real willingness 58 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: to work, and a kind of funny stubbornness. Now, remember, 59 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: Franklin is born in Boston in seventeen oh six, the 60 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: beginning of a new century. He's the tenth son out 61 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: of seventeen children. And that was an era where the 62 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: number one attitude was you got to earn a living. Frankly, 63 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: if you want to leave town, we got other kids 64 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: here too, and we'd rather have you produce money than 65 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: get a degree. Franklin has stopped schooling when he was 66 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: ten years old. He worked in his father's candleshop. He 67 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: made money, and he listened and paid attention to everybody. 68 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: The fact is that there was nothing that didn't intrigue him. Now, 69 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: he also understood that having money was good. So if 70 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: you watch Franklin's long career, and he is at the 71 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: end the oldest person at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 72 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: he's constantly aware of the fact that having money beats 73 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: not having money. Franklin thought it was good to acquire wealth, 74 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: that if you acquired wealth, it liberated you. And in fact, 75 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: his goal was to be rich enough by forty to 76 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: be able to go into politics. And so he really 77 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: was working constantly at this question of can I find 78 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: a way? And he tried many different things simultaneously. He's 79 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: also focused on invention. He's focused on writing. He's one 80 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: of those rare people who had so much energy, had 81 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: such a great capacity to work. You know. Here he is, 82 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: for example, at eleven years of age, inventing swim fins 83 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: for his hands. He's eleven years old and he's inventing 84 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: fins he can put in his hands so he can 85 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: swim better. By the time twelve, he's an apprentice, has 86 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: left his father's candleshop, and now he's apprentice to his brother. 87 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: His brother, James, has a printing shop in Boston, and 88 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: at the age of twelve, Franklin is there, busy working 89 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: away learning how to print. His brother starts publishing The 90 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: New England Current, which is the first American newspaper to 91 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: use literary ideas and humorous essays, and this will become 92 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: an important part of Franklin's own style. Franklin doesn't just 93 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: look at facts. He has a very deep sense of humor. 94 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: He has a little bit cynical sense of humor. I 95 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: understood the human condition. He was quite willing to write 96 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: about it, and he also must have been an amazingly 97 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: fast writer. Remember this is an age when people are 98 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: setting type one letter at a time, so type setting 99 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: is a big deal. And if you write as much 100 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: as Franklin did, you spend a lot of time setting 101 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: type in order to send this stuff out. So you 102 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: have here a person who's constantly writing. Well. By the 103 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: time he's sixteen, he's publishing his first letters, and he 104 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: always publishes fourteen of them. In the current he uses 105 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: the pen name Silent do Good, invents himself as a 106 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: fictional widow of a country minister. You're already seeing the 107 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: Franklin who is very imaginative, very cheerful about pretending to 108 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: be a widow. At the same time, when his brother 109 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: finally realizes that Silent do Good is his younger brother, 110 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, he ain't very happy with him. Franklin somehow 111 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: sort of faking people out, which he was, but he's 112 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: doing it really cheerfully. So he gets to irritated with 113 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: his brother and he runs off to Philadelphia because he 114 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: and his brother can't get along anymore. Now at this 115 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: point he is a ripe old seventeen years of age. 116 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: Philadelphia then was the biggest city in America, the most bustling, 117 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: had the most commerce, had the most ships coming in 118 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: from London. Franklin finds work as a printer with Samuel, 119 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: and he lodges in the home of John Reid, who 120 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: at the time he had no idea, but ultimately becomes 121 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: his father in law. Now, Franklin is a very sociable person, 122 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: and apparently he was a very good conversationalist, so people 123 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: liked him, and you go to taverns, Hey, we've got 124 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: an extra seat here. Come on over, Ben, sit down 125 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: and chat with us. Yeah. One of the people who 126 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: did that was the Pennsylvania governor at the time, William Keith. 127 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: So he gets to know Franklin. He says, why don't 128 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: you set up your own print shop. Well, Franklin goes 129 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: back to Boston asks his father for a loan. His 130 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: father says, you know, Ben, I mean you're not old 131 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: enough yet to do this. So Franklin goes back and 132 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: says to the governor, I'd love to do this. My 133 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: dad won't loan me the money. The governor loans him 134 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,079 Speaker 1: the money. No, here's the guy who has only been 135 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: in town a couple of years and has made such 136 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: a strong impression that the governor thinks he's a good 137 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: business risk. Not only does the offer to pay the bill, 138 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: he offers to send Franklin pay for Franklin to go 139 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: to London. Franklin gets to London and the lesson that 140 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: he will learn many times in his life. The Governor 141 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: forgets to pay for him to come home, so Franklin 142 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:12,680 Speaker 1: stuck in London to can find the money to come home. 143 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: But he does come home. And when he comes home, 144 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: remembering that he had been lodging with John Reid and 145 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: he'd gotten to know Deborah Read, he asked her to 146 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: marry him. However, at this point in his life he's 147 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: only eighteen years old. Deborah's mother is thinking, you know, 148 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:32,559 Speaker 1: this is a guy who's a little bit strange, so 149 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: she says, please be patient, be patient. But when Franklin 150 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,959 Speaker 1: is abroad in London, Deborah's mother tries to convince Deborah 151 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: that she ought to marry John Rogers. But Rogers is 152 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 1: really a bad guy. He spends her dowry, he runs 153 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: up debts, he takes off for the West Indies and 154 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: they think he has died. Franklin, who has not gotten 155 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: money from the governor, come back home, is working at 156 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: Samuel Palmer's print shop in London in order to publish 157 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: enough stuff to make enough money to be able to 158 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: get home, and in seventeen twenty five he publishes his 159 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: first pamphlet in London, which is called a Dissertation on 160 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, and argues that humans 161 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: actually lack free will and are therefore not morally responsible 162 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: for their actions. Now, this is a fairly radical idea, 163 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: and people sort of thought Franklin had lost his mind, 164 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: but it does not, in the long run a fit 165 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: who Franklin is, because he certainly did, in fact believe 166 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: in free will and thought you could make your way, 167 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: and later in life we'll write a whole series of 168 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: articles and books about it. But it doesn't hurt him any. 169 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: This is the guy who's learning the hard way that 170 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: politicians don't always keep their word. Because the governor has 171 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: not brought him back home, so ultimately he does in 172 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: fact get back to Philadelphia. Took him two years instead 173 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,800 Speaker 1: of one, and he sees Deborah, and poor Deborah is 174 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: there with the guy who's run off of their dowry 175 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: and apparently may have died in the Caribbean so he 176 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: tries to make her feel better. He gets his job 177 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: back at Samuel Kimer's print shop, and the very typical 178 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: Franklin behavior. Franklin all his life will see an opportunity 179 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: to get something done that requires founding an organization of 180 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:28,679 Speaker 1: some kind, because he understands that organizations create a life 181 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 1: of their own. Well, he founds what's called the Hunto Club, 182 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: and the hunter Club is a group of young men. 183 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: They meet on Friday evenings and they discuss everything, the 184 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: intellectual stuff, personal stuff, business stuff, community stuff. So it's 185 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: a free, willing dialogue. But it does encourage them to 186 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: read books, It encourages them to think about ideas. It 187 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: gives him a space to begin to create a personal 188 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 1: following because inevitably, in any group, Franklin'll be the smartest guy, 189 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: he'll be the best storyteller, and it'll be the funniest person. 190 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: So now he's been back home, he's worked once again 191 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: for somebody else, But by seventeen twenty eight he's in 192 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: a position where he can, now at twenty two years 193 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: of age, open his own print shop with Hugh Meredith, 194 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,439 Speaker 1: and Meredith actually gets a loan from his own father 195 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: in seventeen twenty nine, they purchase the Pennsylvania Gazette from 196 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: Samuel Kimer, and at that point Franklin begins to really 197 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: row because he likes to write. He can write a lot. 198 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,600 Speaker 1: He has a style that people are attracted to, and 199 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: it both increases his name id in modern parlance, and 200 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: it beans to create more money. He writes a modest 201 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,079 Speaker 1: inquiry into the nature and necessity of a paper currency, 202 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: which called for an increase in the money supply to 203 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: stimulate the economy at this stage of his career, something 204 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: which will change by late in life. He's basically what 205 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: we would call an inflationist. He thinks if we have 206 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: more paper money floating, people will have more purchasing power, 207 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: and therefore the economy will work better. And this is 208 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: part of what has been a permanent running debate in 209 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: American society between sound money people who believe that money 210 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: ought to attain its value, and inflationary people who believe 211 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 1: that having money gradually depreciate actually increases the purchasing power 212 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: and increases the economy. And that fight goes on for 213 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: a long time. Franklin automately decides that paper money is 214 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 1: dangerous and in fact One of the reasons we end 215 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 1: up with the Constitution is to block those who would 216 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: inflct currency. The reason that mattered is once you have 217 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: a lot of property, if you're loaning out money that's 218 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: worth a dollar and they're going to pay you back 219 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: with money worth ninety cents, you're losing on the loan. 220 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: So people who are propertied really dislike having an inflationary currency. 221 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: Franklin goes from a young guy with a theory to 222 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: an older, wealthy guy with money and decides as an 223 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,600 Speaker 1: overwealthy guy, he's with people like Washington who don't want 224 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 1: to have an inflationary currency. Now he's picked to be 225 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:12,319 Speaker 1: the official government printer for Pennsylvania, and there's a reason 226 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: that this really matters. Government then, like now, is a 227 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: major purchaser of goods and services. Everything that the state 228 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: needs published is going to be printed by Benjamin Franklin. 229 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: So he now has a steady stream of revenue which 230 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,360 Speaker 1: enables him. And remember at this stage he's twenty four. 231 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,760 Speaker 1: But at twenty four he's able to buy out Meredith. 232 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: He becomes the most successful printer in town. He owns 233 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: his own company, and at twenty four, having become the 234 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: official government printer. Deborah Read's parents think, you know, probably 235 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: would be a good thing to have Benjamin Franklin as 236 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: a son in law. Now he marries her, even though 237 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: they have no proof that her husband was dead. John Rogers, remember, 238 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: had married her. Her dowry, run up a whole bunch 239 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: of debt, fled to the Caribbean, never been heard of again. 240 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: And the question was what proof do you have? And Franklin, 241 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,080 Speaker 1: as he often will, just ignored it. And so he 242 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: marries Deborah and she plays a huge role in his 243 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,280 Speaker 1: life as somebody that he leans on. She did agree 244 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: to raise Franklin's illegitimate son, William. Truth is, historians are 245 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: not quite sure who the mother was. William becomes the 246 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: deep part of Franklin's household and later in life will 247 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: disappoint him deeply by being a loyalist and staying with 248 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: the British and becoming the governor of New Jersey for 249 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: the King against the Revolutionaries, which embitters Franklin substantially. Deborah 250 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: works with Franklin and this becomes a very very important 251 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: part of his life. She's really his business partner, and 252 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: when he goes off to do other things, he goes 253 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: off to politics. He goes off to a diplomat. She's 254 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: the one who stays home. She didn't particularly want to travel, 255 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: and given the way ocean travel was in that generation, 256 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: that's understandable. She ran the businesses kept unprofitable, made him money, 257 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:12,000 Speaker 1: and it all seemed to work, and they worked for 258 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: a very long time until she died. She is a 259 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: key hidden part of why Franklin was able to be 260 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: as effective as he was. She also put up with him. 261 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: She was willing to focus on the mundane business and 262 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: household side, which would not have made him an historic figure, 263 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: but was the base of his ability to have the 264 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: time and energy and resources to be a historic figure. 265 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: So Franklin got to play at being Van Franklin in 266 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: large part because he had a wife who was willing 267 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: to tolerate him, willing to support him, and was smart 268 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,440 Speaker 1: enough and hard working enough that she could make a 269 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: bunch of money while he was doing other things. Franklin, 270 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: now that he's married and he owns his own business 271 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: and he's the largest printer in Philadelphia. Now he turns 272 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: and he begins to really define himself as a citizen. 273 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: By seventeen thirty one, he's done all the stuff I've 274 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: been describing to you, and he's twenty five. He joins 275 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: the Freemasons, which were a very very important social and 276 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: quasi religious group of that era. He helps establish the Library 277 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: Company of Philadelphia, which is the first lending library in America. 278 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: He aggressively defends the freedom of the press that would 279 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: clearly be on the side of those who favor the 280 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,160 Speaker 1: First Amendment rights of the press, and at twenty five 281 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 1: years of age, he publishes an Apology for Printers, which 282 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:35,920 Speaker 1: defends freedom of the press. He also enters into a partnership, 283 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: gets more printing equipment, continues to get wealthier. By seventeen 284 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: thirty two, they have their first child, Francis Folger Franklin. Sadly, 285 00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: Francis dies from smallpox at the age of four. Franklin 286 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:56,679 Speaker 1: never forgives himself because he should have been inoculated smallpox. 287 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: Inoculation was increasingly popular. People knew about it, and it worked. 288 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: Franklin would later write in his autobiography, quote in seventeen 289 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: thirty six, I lost one of my sons, a fine 290 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in 291 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret 292 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: that I have not given it to him by inoculation 293 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:28,040 Speaker 1: close quote. Franklin in seventeen thirty two publishes a German 294 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:32,199 Speaker 1: foreign language newspaper. In the eighteenth century, there were so 295 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 1: many Germans migrating to Pennsylvania that there was serious talk 296 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: of making German the second language of the country. There 297 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: was a very large German population. Franklin was deeply opposed 298 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: to making German the second language, but he wasn't opposed 299 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: to making money. So he publishes a German language newspaper 300 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: whose only difficulty as it fails financially and again it's 301 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: an example entrepreneurs don't always succeed. Entrepreneurs have to be 302 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,800 Speaker 1: able to get back up, go back and try it again, 303 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: and see what they can get done and what they 304 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: can learn. He also in seventeen thirty two something historic 305 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: happens in the history of American literature and in the 306 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: history of Benjamin Franklin. As an American citizen, he publishes 307 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanac, using a pseudonym 308 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:24,479 Speaker 1: of Richard Saunders. Why does Poor Richard's Almanac matter? It 309 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:30,119 Speaker 1: is extraordinarily successful, It's a best seller, and it's going 310 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: to be a best seller for a generation because he 311 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: writes it. There's a new almanac every year. It is 312 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: filled with common sense things like waste not, want not, 313 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: a stitch in time saves nine, penny wise and pound foolish, 314 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: things which in our era may not make a great 315 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: deal of sense. For example, we don't use the British pounds. 316 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: So the idea of being penny wise and pound foolish 317 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,640 Speaker 1: meaning you're really smart about a small thing, but you're 318 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,160 Speaker 1: done about a big thing. When it does finally get 319 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: to be obvious who's writing it, it just spreads his 320 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: fame across the whole all of the colonies. He becomes 321 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 1: the grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mason of Pennsylvania. Again, 322 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: he's rising in status, he's rising in influence. He has 323 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: a bigger and bigger network of friends. By seventeen thirty six, 324 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: at the age of thirty, he's appointed Clerk of the 325 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Assembly. So now he's helping organize and taking care 326 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,719 Speaker 1: of the politicians. At the same time that the colonial 327 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: government is hiring his firm to print all of the printing, 328 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: which is helping make him increasingly wealthy. Hi this is 329 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,480 Speaker 1: newt In my new book, March the Majority, The Real 330 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: Story of the Republican Revolution, I offer strategies and insights 331 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: for everyday citizens and for season politicians. It's both a 332 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: guide for political success and for winning back the Majority. 333 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, March the Majority outlines the sixteen 334 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: year campaign to write the Contract with America. Explains how 335 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,439 Speaker 1: we elected the first Republican House majority in forty years 336 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: in how we worked with President Bill Clinton to pass 337 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: major reforms, including four consecutive balanced budgets. March to the 338 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: Majority tells the behind the scenes story of how we 339 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: got it done. Go to ginglishtree sixty dot com slash 340 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: book and order your copy now. Order it today at 341 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:37,120 Speaker 1: ginglishtree sixty dot com slash book. In many ways, Franklin's 342 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: greatest business accomplishment came from the publication of Poor Richard's Almanac. 343 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: You know. He published it once a year for twenty 344 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: five years, beginning on December nineteenth, seventeen thirty two, originally 345 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders, but then ultimately everybody 346 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: knew it was Benjamin Franklin. It captured all sorts of 347 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: information about the calendar, weather, predictions, sayings, poems, recipes, trivia, advice. 348 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: He thought it was a vehicle of instruction for common people, 349 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,879 Speaker 1: folks who couldn't afford books normally. It was a literature 350 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: for the masses, and he was onto something because almanacs 351 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: were the most read secular books in the colonies. He 352 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: had little phrases from different years, but to give you 353 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: a feel for Franklin's sense of what people are to hear, 354 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: he wrote, three may keep a secret if two of 355 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:37,919 Speaker 1: them are dead lost time is never found again, And this, 356 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,479 Speaker 1: by the way, captures his entire life. He did not 357 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,360 Speaker 1: like to waste time because he felt it could never 358 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 1: be found again. He said, love your enemies, for they 359 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 1: tell you your faults and the affairs of this world. Men 360 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: are saved not by faith, but by the lack of it. 361 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: If you would not be forgotten as soon as you 362 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: are dead and rotten, write things worth reading, or do 363 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: things worth right. And the way his life was both. 364 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,879 Speaker 1: The way to see by faith is to shut the 365 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: eye of reason. Women are books, and men the readers be. 366 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,680 Speaker 1: There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking, 367 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: speak little do much. A friend in need is a friend, 368 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: indeed to all apparent beauties blind. Each blemish strikes an 369 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: envious mind. Fish and visitors stink in three days. That 370 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: may be one that's remembered as well as anything he 371 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: ever wrote. Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices. 372 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 1: Now there's some advice very seldom followed. Search others for 373 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: their virtues, thyself for thy vices. He that drinks his 374 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: sight or alone, let him catch his horse alone. Fools 375 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: need advice most, but wise men only are the better 376 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 1: for it. So that was classically Franklin, somebody who listened 377 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 1: to people, picked up common sense Langeug which in in 378 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: fact wrote out a set of advice to everyday Americans, 379 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 1: some of which he followed in his own life, and 380 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: some of which he cheerfully ignored. He helps organize the 381 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: Union Fire Company of Philadelphia, and the duty of the 382 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,959 Speaker 1: Union Fire Company Philadelphia was to train and organize fireman 383 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: because the city is getting big enough. It's the largest 384 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: city in the New World, and it's getting big enough 385 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,400 Speaker 1: that you need to have an organized fire department because 386 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: you have a real challenge of taking care of houses 387 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,800 Speaker 1: to start to burn down. He also becomes the postmaster 388 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: of Philadelphia. Now This is again an interesting example of Franklin. 389 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: He is now thirty one years old. The British government 390 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: appoints him postmaster of Philadelphia, which is, frankly an office 391 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:53,359 Speaker 1: that makes money. Postmasters back then were commercial assignments, so 392 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: they make money out of many different things. And then 393 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: he does something which truly changes history way that's very 394 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: practical rather than political. In seventeen forty two he invents 395 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: a freestanding cast iron fireplace which is known as the 396 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: Franklin stove. Franklin stove, by the way, is still available today. 397 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: You can go online you can buy a Franklin stove. 398 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 1: It was a very intelligent contribution to a better life 399 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: because it used wood to generate heat with greater efficiency 400 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:29,360 Speaker 1: than the stoves which preceded. And interestingly, in terms of Franklin, 401 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:31,880 Speaker 1: he didn't patent it. In fact, he didn't patent any 402 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 1: of his inventions. His idea was, look, if it works 403 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: for me and my life is better, why shouldn't you 404 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:39,639 Speaker 1: be able to build it and your life can be better. 405 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,359 Speaker 1: He thought of this as part of his civic life, 406 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: and he's inventing as a citizen, not as a businessman. 407 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,159 Speaker 1: Now on the business side, he's very tough mind, and 408 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 1: he's independently wealthy. But as an inventor, he just liked 409 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: inventing things, and of course probably his most famous as 410 00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: the vocal glasses. But he just had a constant looking 411 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:02,520 Speaker 1: at things thinking is a way to do it better? 412 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,880 Speaker 1: Is the way to do it differently? In the same 413 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: time period, by the way, in seventeen forty three, when 414 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: he does have a daughter, Sarah, they have her inoculated. 415 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: They'd learned the lesson tragically from their son dying from smallpox. 416 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: They're not going to take the risk. And the same 417 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: year that his daughters born, in seventeen forty three, he 418 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:25,120 Speaker 1: writes a pamphlet called A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge, 419 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: and that leads to the American Philosophical Society. And one 420 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,360 Speaker 1: of the offshoots of the American Philosophical Society is the 421 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, which I first visited 422 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 1: when I was about ten and went to a couple 423 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 1: months ago. It is a great institution. It has all 424 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: of Lewis and Clark's material because at the time of 425 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: the Lewis and Clark expedition, he was the only major 426 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: science museum in the country. It's a remarkable place if 427 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,959 Speaker 1: you go to Philadelphia to go by and see it. 428 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: He wakes up the way he thinks, oh, why don't 429 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,919 Speaker 1: we have a philosophical society. Well, because he writes so fast, 430 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: I think I'll write a proposal for it. And by 431 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 1: the way, since I'm a publisher, I think i'll publish it. 432 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:08,399 Speaker 1: So he's publishing his own pamphlet. At the same time, 433 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: he's offering to sell Franklin stoves, and Franklin stoves sell 434 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,000 Speaker 1: very well. Now he wasn't patenting it. Anybody else who 435 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: wanted to could make a Franklin Stell, but he didn't 436 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:22,160 Speaker 1: mind making money off it himself. By seventeen forty seven, 437 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,959 Speaker 1: he publishes a pamphlet called Plain Truth and proposes the 438 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: formation of a Philadelphia militia. Let's just think about it. 439 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:30,919 Speaker 1: This is the guy who wakes up in the morning, 440 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: has a big idea and writes it down and sends 441 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: it out, And people begin in the habit now thinking 442 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: I wonder what Franklin's up to next. What makes Franklin 443 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,440 Speaker 1: amazing is at forty two years of age in seventeen 444 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: forty eight, he retires. He's now made enough money, he 445 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: takes on a partner who gives him additional income the 446 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: rest of his life, and the partner runs the daily 447 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: operations of the printing business. And because he now has 448 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 1: free time, he becomes a member of Philadelphia City Council. 449 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: So now you have businessman, inventor, writer, now politician. And 450 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: by the following year, in seventeen forty nine, he writes 451 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: proposals relating to the education of youth in Philadelphia. There's 452 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: a great story by one of my favorites about Franklin Is. 453 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: At one point during his political career, he took a 454 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:26,919 Speaker 1: very unpopular position, and a number of people wanted to 455 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: sort of browbeaty into giving it up. And so one 456 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: evening he invited them to dinner, and they all came 457 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: over to his house, and they had a very nice house, 458 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 1: and they all sit around the dining room table and 459 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: he serves them this very strange porridge which they all 460 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: can barely taste so bad. And he finishes, he cleans 461 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: his ball, and he says, gentlemen, this is actually sawdust. Now, 462 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: if I'm prepared to eat a bowl of sawdust, what 463 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: do you think you're going to do to intimidate me? 464 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: It was so clear that Franklin wasn't somebody that you 465 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: can intimidate. By seventeen fifty, what I think, after his 466 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: bifocal glasses is his most interesting invention. He proposes using 467 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: lightning rods to keep houses safe. Franklin figured out that 468 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,479 Speaker 1: if I could put up a pole that was above 469 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: the house so it would attract the lightning, and if 470 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: I could ground the pole in the ground so that 471 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,760 Speaker 1: the electricity would come straight down the pole go into 472 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: the ground and never touch the house, that your house 473 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: wouldn't burn down. Well, it may have been after his 474 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: bifocal invention the most practical and most widespread improvement in 475 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: life that anybody made. It's incalculable today how many houses 476 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: did not burn down because of Benjamin Franklin. But the 477 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 1: numbers would be in the hundreds of thousands by now. 478 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: He continues to be involved as an acting person. In 479 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty he is the developing lightning rods. The following 480 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,440 Speaker 1: year he decides in passing, he'll helped found what was 481 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: then called the Academy for Education of Youth, and we 482 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: call it the University of Pennsylvania. And so he's going 483 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,200 Speaker 1: from place to place almost like a Johnny Appleseed of 484 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 1: a better life. He's also mentally exploring the world. So 485 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: the same year that he's helping found what becomes the 486 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania, he also is writing an article on 487 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: the Experiments and Observations on electricity. He's also that year, 488 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: by the way, elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly and as 489 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 1: a city alderman. All this is happening simultaneously. The following year, 490 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty two, he builds on his article on 491 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: the Experiments and Observations and electricity, and in a classically 492 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: American model, he leaves the laboratory. He steps outside, and 493 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: he flies the kite, and the kite attracts lightning, and 494 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: the lightning is electrical. And he then publishes how you 495 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: can conduct the experiment because he'd thought through the key part, 496 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: which is, all right, if you attract the lightning, where's 497 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: electricity going? And he made sure it wasn't going through him. 498 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: He also in passing the same year. I remember, he's 499 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: making money, he's serving as a city alderman, he's serving 500 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 1: in the Pennsylvania Assembly. He's still writing a lot. And 501 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty two he founds the Philadelphia Contributionship. Now 502 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: what is a contribution ship. Well, you and I think 503 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,520 Speaker 1: of it as a fire insurance company, and so literally, 504 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: in passing, he says, now, if we all contributed a 505 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 1: little bit, then if one of us had our house 506 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: burned down, we could collect on the value of the 507 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: house based on our contributions. And so the Philadelphia Contribution 508 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 1: Ship sets the base for a mutual fire insurance company, 509 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 1: which becomes a model that's very, very widespread. The next year, 510 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:58,160 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty three, he's appointed Deputy Postmaster General of 511 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 1: the Colonies. Now think about this. The British government now 512 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: is saying to Franklin, we trust you enough, we think 513 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: you're smart enough, we think you're a good enough businessman. 514 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: We want you to help run all of the post 515 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 1: offices in the entire thirteen colonies, which of course also 516 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: gives him an excuse to learn more and more and 517 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: to think beyond Philadelphia and to think beyond Pennsylvania. Now 518 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: he'd already been born and grown up in Boston, so 519 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: now he has an increasing sense of the East Coast 520 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: of the United States, the Atlantic Coast, and all the 521 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: different colonies from Georgia up through Massachusetts. He also that year, 522 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty three, he gets the Copley Medal, which 523 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,200 Speaker 1: is the highest award the Royal Society of London can give. 524 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: So he's being recognized worldwide as a scientist. He is 525 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: the postmaster for all of the colonies. He is serving 526 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: in the city government, the state government, and he's active 527 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: in founding various organs positions, and he's continuing to be 528 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: a scientist. All this is simultaneous and as a scientist 529 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: in passing because remember never went to graduate school, never 530 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,480 Speaker 1: took a science course. He is recognized as a worldwide 531 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: contributor because of the work he's done on electricity. He's 532 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:20,959 Speaker 1: also concerned about what we would call national security, and 533 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: he's concerned about the French and Indians in the West. 534 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 1: And remember that the French Indian War will start in 535 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: what we call Pittsburgh, then called Fort Duquine, which was 536 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: a French outpost coming to the French are coming down 537 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,720 Speaker 1: from Canada, We're coming from the Atlantic coast and we're 538 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: about to collide in western Pennsylvania. And in seventeen fifty four, Franklin, 539 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: Prince of Cartoon Join or Die, which argues that the 540 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: colonies have to work together in confederation, they have to 541 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: protect themselves, that no single colony is going to be 542 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: capable of developing its own defenses. Now, this is a 543 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: pretty radical view at the time, and one of the 544 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: signals it's a radical view that year seventeen fifty four 545 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: is the British government fireson. They say, you're now not 546 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: the Deputy Postmaster General. Your political views are too radical. 547 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: And for the first time Franklin is faced with the 548 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,720 Speaker 1: consequences that if he really believes what he says he believes, 549 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: he's going to pay some real cost for that. In 550 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,840 Speaker 1: the midst of all this, in seventeen fifty five, Franklin, 551 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: with doctor Thomas Bond, founded the Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's 552 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,719 Speaker 1: first hospital focused on the sick, the poor, and the insane. 553 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:36,919 Speaker 1: And again when you go to Philadelphia, you just see 554 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: case after case of Franklin's impact. Two hundred years later, 555 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 1: the French and Indian War starting in seventeen fifty six, 556 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,280 Speaker 1: and you remember that it's Washington who plays a leading 557 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 1: role in starting the French and Indian War. Franklin was 558 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,399 Speaker 1: asked to lead Pennsylvania militia against the French, who were 559 00:34:55,520 --> 00:35:01,000 Speaker 1: defeating the English troops accompanied by his son, but mercilessly 560 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,799 Speaker 1: to take back land, establish new forts, and push back 561 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: against the French forces. He served as an officer in 562 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: the militia without even receiving pay, because his devotion to 563 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: duty was so deep. He was a wealthy businessman, so 564 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,960 Speaker 1: he could afford to be a volunteer for free. In 565 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty seven, though, while the French and New Wars underway, 566 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,280 Speaker 1: Franklin is elected to go to England to talk about 567 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:29,399 Speaker 1: colonial disputes with Parliament. He stays for five years, and 568 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:33,239 Speaker 1: this is I think one of the most important examples 569 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:40,200 Speaker 1: of change in leading up to American independence. Franklin leaves 570 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:45,879 Speaker 1: the colonies as a loyal British servant. He finds out 571 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: over time that in fact, he'll never be accepted. He 572 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: can be wealthy, doesn't matter. He can be a world 573 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,319 Speaker 1: class scientist, doesn't matter. He can win elections back home, 574 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:01,960 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. He can be the funniest, best storyteller 575 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,959 Speaker 1: in the room, doesn't matter. He's not an aristocrat. He's 576 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,560 Speaker 1: never going to be accepted as an aristocrat. And I 577 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,280 Speaker 1: think it's the bitterness of beginning to realize that which 578 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: begins to turn him against the English government and make 579 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:18,759 Speaker 1: him begin to think of himself as an American. He 580 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,239 Speaker 1: stays from seventeen fifty seven for five years, goes back 581 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: to Boston for two years, and in the process he 582 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 1: invents the glass harmonica. This was a very sophisticated device 583 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: which made a series of sounds. It was widely received, 584 00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:39,000 Speaker 1: probably ranked along with the lightning rod and the bifocals 585 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,840 Speaker 1: and the Franklin stove among the most widely received of 586 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: Franklin's inventions. Both Beethoven and Mozart used Franklin's harmonica. By 587 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,880 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty four, he loses his seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly, 588 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: but goes back to London as a colonial agent, and 589 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 1: the next year, seventeen sixty five, the Stamp Act passed 590 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: by the House of Commons. Remember, the Stamp Act is 591 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: designed to raise money from the Americans to help pay 592 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 1: the cost to the French and Indian War, which the 593 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,719 Speaker 1: British reasoned had protected America from attack, and therefore the 594 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,920 Speaker 1: Americans ought to bear some burden. The Americans, of course, 595 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,000 Speaker 1: resented the idea, did not want to pay the Stamp Act, 596 00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,239 Speaker 1: and that was the beginning of the deep disaffection that 597 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: would autoly lead to the Revolution because Franklin knew that 598 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,319 Speaker 1: Americans were against it. In seventeen sixty six, just one 599 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:35,000 Speaker 1: year after the Actress passed, he testifies in the House 600 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,400 Speaker 1: of Commons in favor of repeal of the Stamp Act, 601 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: proving that his loyalties are to the colonies. Yet the 602 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: very same year, while he's testifying in the House of Comments, 603 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,799 Speaker 1: he's elected as a member of the Royal Society of Sciences. 604 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: He may not be an aristocrat to the aristocrats, but 605 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: he's clearly an aristocrat to the scientists, and they have 606 00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: the greatest admiration for him. Well, that's going on. The 607 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: British troops are being to Boston. The British government's getting 608 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,719 Speaker 1: tougher and tougher. The fact is that Franklin was committed 609 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,360 Speaker 1: to representing the American side. It's also in this period 610 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,919 Speaker 1: that his daughter Sally marries Richard Bach. Franklin really wanted 611 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: her not to do that, because Bach's situation financially was 612 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,760 Speaker 1: bad and he was afraid that Bach was just marrying 613 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 1: her for her money. Nonetheless, his wife, Deborah allowed them 614 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 1: to be married, against Franklin's wishes. He accepted the marriage. 615 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,720 Speaker 1: After Sally had their first child, Ben helped Richard obtain 616 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 1: several loans, helped him set up a few stores. But 617 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,720 Speaker 1: the truth is Franklin supported Sally in her eight children 618 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:42,919 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. He was, in fact 619 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,520 Speaker 1: a very generous family man and was deeply concerned about 620 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:48,839 Speaker 1: his family, even if he didn't spend very much time 621 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 1: with him. By seventeen sixty nine, the American Philosophical Society, 622 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,960 Speaker 1: which he had helped found, has elected Franklin as its president, 623 00:38:57,560 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 1: and then they re elected him every single year after 624 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,600 Speaker 1: that until he died. So he's the head of the 625 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: Philosophical Society. He's inventing musical instruments, he's inventing practical things 626 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 1: like the Franklin stove, the bifocals and lightning rods. And 627 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:16,359 Speaker 1: then the Boston Massacre occurs. British troops shoot at colonists. 628 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 1: The whole colonies are upset and are afraid, and Franklin 629 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,560 Speaker 1: tries to find a way to bring Britain and the 630 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,920 Speaker 1: colonies back together. In seventeen seventy one, he begins writing 631 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,440 Speaker 1: his autobiography, which I can tell you if you have 632 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,040 Speaker 1: never read it is absolutely worth your getting and reading. 633 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:38,960 Speaker 1: It's a remarkable book. It's very candid, it's very wise. 634 00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:42,360 Speaker 1: I don't care who you are. You will learn things 635 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 1: you'll apply to your own life. If you read Franklin's autobiography. 636 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 1: In London, he gets a series of letters, some thirteen 637 00:39:50,719 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: letters come to him from an anonymous sinder. The letters 638 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: have been stolen. There were a correspondence between the Massachusetts Governor, 639 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,239 Speaker 1: the Royal Governor Thomas Hutcheson, and the Royal Lieutenant Governor 640 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:09,160 Speaker 1: Andrew Oliver, who are writing English authorities. Somehow these letters 641 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,759 Speaker 1: had gotten stolen and they were given to Franklin, who 642 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: then sends them to Samuel Adams and authorizes them to 643 00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 1: be shown to the members of the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence, 644 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: but not copied or published. Now, this clearly is a 645 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,920 Speaker 1: totally inappropriate act and will begin the process of really 646 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,759 Speaker 1: alienating the English and Franklin. By seventeen seventy three, the 647 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,640 Speaker 1: Stampack not having worked, Parliament passes the Tea Act, which 648 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 1: then leads in Boston to people dressing up as Indians 649 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,839 Speaker 1: and dumping the tea in the harbor in what we 650 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: call the Boston Tea Party, and Interestingly, Franklin, who of 651 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,279 Speaker 1: course was from Boston, originally has real ties emotionally back 652 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,479 Speaker 1: to Boston as well as to Philadelphia. That same year, 653 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts Speaker, Thomas Cushing gives the letters that Franklin 654 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: had sent to the Massachusetts House, and the House concluded 655 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: that Governor Hutcheson intended to overthrow the Constitution. They decide 656 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: to petition for Hutcheson and Oliver's removal, and despite Franklin's wishes, 657 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:37,240 Speaker 1: the letters are published in the Boston Gazette. Franklin tries 658 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,440 Speaker 1: to communicate to the British through satire. In September seventy 659 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,719 Speaker 1: seventy three, he publishes two articles in the Public Advertiser 660 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: in London, one quote Rules by which a Great Empire 661 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:53,840 Speaker 1: may be reduced to a small one, and the second 662 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: Edict by the King of Prussia. Both of them are satirical, 663 00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,960 Speaker 1: and both of them attacked the British attitude toward the colony. 664 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 1: Now remember at this point, the aristocrats are amused. They 665 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: don't want to be lectured by some colonial, even if 666 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,560 Speaker 1: he's a famous scientist and a wealthy man. And they're 667 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 1: increasingly angry because they see the Americans as totally ungrateful 668 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 1: and treasonous. When Britain had fought the French, Britain had 669 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,400 Speaker 1: defeated the Indians, Britain had protected the colonies and all 670 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: they get back in return. His constant complaint refusal to 671 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: pay taxes, and people who clearly are not appropriate for 672 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 1: English society. Two things happen in the early seventeen seventies 673 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: that really affect Franklin. First was that his wife, Deborah dies. 674 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,160 Speaker 1: He was still in England. They had been separated physically, 675 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,200 Speaker 1: but they wrote to each other constantly. She had run 676 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:47,040 Speaker 1: the business in his absence. When he did return home 677 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:50,160 Speaker 1: to America, he wrote a friend, quote, I have lately 678 00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:54,080 Speaker 1: lost my old and faithful companion, and I every day 679 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: become more sensible of the greatness of that loss, which 680 00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: cannot now be repaired. Close quote I suspect you both 681 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,440 Speaker 1: realized how many days they'd been apart, how much of 682 00:43:05,480 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: their lives had been separate, and with gratitude, how much 683 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:12,320 Speaker 1: she had done, how she had enabled him to be 684 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,839 Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin, because she had run the business, she'd earned 685 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,840 Speaker 1: the money, she'd paid attention to, all the details that 686 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:21,880 Speaker 1: he cheerfully ignored. But the other thing which happened in 687 00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:25,239 Speaker 1: the seventeen seventies while he was still in London, when 688 00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: word reached Great Britain that the official letters of the 689 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: Governor and the Lieutenant Governor had been somehow submitted to 690 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:39,080 Speaker 1: the House of Commons of the colony. There was an 691 00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 1: enormous uprising in Britain of interest, where do these come from? 692 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:46,600 Speaker 1: Who was responsible? And finally Franklin cleared the air in 693 00:43:46,640 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 1: December of seventeen seventy three, he wrote a brief note 694 00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,920 Speaker 1: to the newspaper saying I'm the person who released him. 695 00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:57,480 Speaker 1: While that guaranteed that the Privy Council, which was in 696 00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:01,839 Speaker 1: effect the highest political judai initual body in Britain, would 697 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,560 Speaker 1: see him and would demand to know what he was 698 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:07,640 Speaker 1: doing and why he was doing it, And he went twice. 699 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,359 Speaker 1: The first time he went, he frankly thought they were 700 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,279 Speaker 1: going to enquire about what had happened with Hutchinson and 701 00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,160 Speaker 1: Oliver the governor Lieutenant Governor and why were they in 702 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:19,799 Speaker 1: such trouble. Instead he found that the Solicitor General of 703 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:24,000 Speaker 1: Britain attacked him for a full solid hour, and when 704 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,799 Speaker 1: they said okay, it's your turn, he just stood there 705 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: quietly and said, I didn't realize this was the point 706 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:31,720 Speaker 1: of this, and I want a lawyer, and they agreed 707 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:33,719 Speaker 1: he ought to have a lawyer. So two weeks later 708 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:37,360 Speaker 1: they came back together. But in the interim the Boston 709 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 1: Tea Party news had reached Great Britain that the Americans 710 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:44,080 Speaker 1: had dressed like Indians, gone into the harbor, thrown the 711 00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:47,560 Speaker 1: tea from the East India Company into the harbor, destroying it. 712 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:50,960 Speaker 1: And there was a high sense of rage in the 713 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,919 Speaker 1: governing class in Britain. And so when Franklin shows back up, 714 00:44:55,320 --> 00:45:00,720 Speaker 1: he is attacked for several hours and a very direct, 715 00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:03,799 Speaker 1: in aggressive and nasty way, and it's quite clear that 716 00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: he is the target and that there's nothing he can 717 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 1: do to defend himself. He is wearing a blue coat, which, 718 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:15,320 Speaker 1: to show how Franklin's mind worked, he will wear again 719 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,760 Speaker 1: when he signs the Peace Treaty declaring the United States 720 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:23,160 Speaker 1: to be free and independent. And somebody said, why do 721 00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,080 Speaker 1: you have this old coat? Remember the peace Treaty now 722 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:30,799 Speaker 1: that he's signing is more than a decade later, And 723 00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:34,520 Speaker 1: he said, for a little sense of revenge. Franklin was 724 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:37,480 Speaker 1: not a man who one could attack easily. Or lightly 725 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:40,840 Speaker 1: or expect to ever turn the other cheek. So he 726 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:45,279 Speaker 1: goes home having been attacked by the British elites, and 727 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:49,360 Speaker 1: now he is clearly committed to independence. He's elected as 728 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:54,680 Speaker 1: a Pennsylvania delegate to the second Continental Congress, and he also, ironically, 729 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:58,640 Speaker 1: having been fired by the British as the postmaster General, 730 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:02,759 Speaker 1: which happened the day after the Privy Council meeting to 731 00:46:02,840 --> 00:46:06,360 Speaker 1: punish him, he is now elected as the Postmaster General 732 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,600 Speaker 1: of the Colonies by the Continental Congress. So at the 733 00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,560 Speaker 1: very moment that the British are losing control of the 734 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,239 Speaker 1: post offices, they are being turned back over to the 735 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 1: guy who had been in charge of the post offices 736 00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: on behalf of the king, so Franklin knew what he 737 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,000 Speaker 1: was doing and how to do it. In seventeen seventy six, 738 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:27,360 Speaker 1: he's asked to be one of five people who draft 739 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:32,240 Speaker 1: the Declation Independence, and he is clearly a key figure 740 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 1: who people trust and plays a significant role in working 741 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:38,960 Speaker 1: with Jefferson and Adams to get the final draft of 742 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:44,840 Speaker 1: the Declation Independence approved by the Congress. Then he's asked 743 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:49,640 Speaker 1: to go to France to be a commissioner from the 744 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:53,840 Speaker 1: Continental Congress in order to get the French to help us. Remember, 745 00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:57,080 Speaker 1: at this point, without the help of France, the United 746 00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,239 Speaker 1: States will lose the war to Britain because we have 747 00:47:00,280 --> 00:47:04,279 Speaker 1: no money, will have no ammunition, we'll have no uniforms, 748 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,840 Speaker 1: we will have no effective navy. And so this was 749 00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:11,920 Speaker 1: life and death. And Franklin, who had the great advantage 750 00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 1: of being a world famous scientist, is a very major player. 751 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:21,560 Speaker 1: And because he's also so personable, so amused by life, 752 00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:26,560 Speaker 1: and so engaging with people, he became a very, very 753 00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 1: widely admired and liked diplomat. Franklin plays a key role 754 00:47:32,680 --> 00:47:36,279 Speaker 1: is in Europe, not in America, works very hard to 755 00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:40,239 Speaker 1: keep the French on our side. And then after Cornwallis 756 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:44,360 Speaker 1: surrenders at Yorktown in seventeen eighty one, effectively ending the 757 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:48,319 Speaker 1: military part of the war, Congress appoints Franklin, along with 758 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:51,640 Speaker 1: John Jay, John Adams, and Henry Lawrence, to be a 759 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 1: commissioner to negotiate peace, and in seventeen eighty three they 760 00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,719 Speaker 1: complete the negotiations and they signed the peastret Franklin, by 761 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,640 Speaker 1: the way, is the toughest, most hard nosed person on 762 00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:06,279 Speaker 1: the question of whether or not there should be any 763 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:10,040 Speaker 1: compensation for Tories who had stayed on the side of 764 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,880 Speaker 1: the British and said absolutely no, these people were traders. 765 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:16,120 Speaker 1: They should not get a penny, and he was just 766 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,680 Speaker 1: firm that that was not going to be part of 767 00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,360 Speaker 1: the agreement. They signed the peace Treaty, as I said earlier, 768 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,880 Speaker 1: with Franklin wearing the same coat that he had worn 769 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:30,279 Speaker 1: back when the Privy Council tried to humiliate it. And 770 00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:34,160 Speaker 1: Franklin then returns because now he's no longer totally drowning 771 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,879 Speaker 1: and being a diplomat, so he returns to being an 772 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:42,400 Speaker 1: inventor and a commentator. In seventeen eighty three, we complete negotiations, 773 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:46,280 Speaker 1: we signed the peace Treaty. Now the colonies are independent states. 774 00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:51,000 Speaker 1: And one year later Franklin writes quote an economical project 775 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:54,760 Speaker 1: for diminishing the cost of light, which is in fact 776 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:59,160 Speaker 1: the first document proposing daylight savings time. He does this 777 00:48:59,239 --> 00:49:01,920 Speaker 1: in passing thinks to himself, gosh, wouldn't it make sense 778 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,160 Speaker 1: if we change so that we had more time, more 779 00:49:04,239 --> 00:49:07,800 Speaker 1: daylight And he writes this out, and of course, well 780 00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,799 Speaker 1: over one hundred years later it begins to be implemented, 781 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 1: so the daylight saving time that we currently celebrate can 782 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:17,480 Speaker 1: be traced back to an idea from Benjamin Franklin. Then 783 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:20,480 Speaker 1: the same year he invents the bifocal glasses. As he's 784 00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:23,040 Speaker 1: getting older, he notices that he has one pair of 785 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:26,040 Speaker 1: glasses for seeing up close, one pair of glasses for 786 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,320 Speaker 1: seeing in the distance. He's constantly taking off one putting 787 00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:31,840 Speaker 1: on the other. You always have to carry extra glasses, 788 00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:35,320 Speaker 1: And he thinks to himself, well, what if I arrange 789 00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:37,440 Speaker 1: it so when you look down, which is what you 790 00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,359 Speaker 1: do when you're reading, you have close vision, and when 791 00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:43,920 Speaker 1: you look out, which you're looking up, you have distance vision. 792 00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:49,320 Speaker 1: He goes to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in seventeen 793 00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:52,080 Speaker 1: eighty seven. He's the oldest person at the convention. He 794 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:56,000 Speaker 1: occasionally falls asleep during the sessions, but he also when 795 00:49:56,040 --> 00:49:59,520 Speaker 1: the convention is about to melt down in bitterness and 796 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,640 Speaker 1: how still between the large states and the small states, 797 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:06,279 Speaker 1: and his most important intervention, he says, why don't we 798 00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:09,799 Speaker 1: suspend for a day, have a day of prayer and fasting, 799 00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:13,040 Speaker 1: and have various ministers come in and pray to us 800 00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,239 Speaker 1: to get ourselves back on the right mindset, which is 801 00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:19,480 Speaker 1: in fact precisely what they do, and a very famous 802 00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:24,040 Speaker 1: moment when he is leaving the Constitutional Convention, having completed 803 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:27,320 Speaker 1: the work, and the lady says to him on Independence 804 00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:30,040 Speaker 1: Hall steps, what have you done? And he said, we 805 00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:34,279 Speaker 1: have created a republic if you can keep it, and 806 00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:36,960 Speaker 1: understood thoroughly that in the long run it would be 807 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,279 Speaker 1: up to the American people whether or not it would 808 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,799 Speaker 1: work and whether or not it would survive. I wanted 809 00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,919 Speaker 1: his comment to go and stand there at Independence Hall 810 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:52,319 Speaker 1: and think about the people who signed the Declaration Independence. 811 00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:56,759 Speaker 1: To go across to the great New Constitution Center, which 812 00:50:56,840 --> 00:51:00,719 Speaker 1: is just remarkable, To go to the Franklin Institute, and 813 00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:04,400 Speaker 1: to realize again and again the impact that this guy had. 814 00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:06,799 Speaker 1: To take a map and go around and see all 815 00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:11,520 Speaker 1: the different places where there are universities or insurance companies, 816 00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:15,320 Speaker 1: or libraries or fire departments, things that Benjamin Franklin created 817 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,279 Speaker 1: in his lifetime. By seventeen eighty eight, he's being to 818 00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:21,480 Speaker 1: realize that eighty two years of age, he likely doesn't 819 00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:23,879 Speaker 1: have many more years left, so he writes a will 820 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 1: leaving most of his estate to his daughter Sarah. Seventeen 821 00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:31,040 Speaker 1: eighty nine, he's elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for 822 00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:35,520 Speaker 1: Promoting the abolition of slavery. Here's a guy who constantly, 823 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:41,839 Speaker 1: endlessly fought for human freedom, who steadily spread the opportunity 824 00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,280 Speaker 1: for freedom, and who at the end of his life 825 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:48,120 Speaker 1: is working on the abolition of slavery. In fact, submits 826 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:53,040 Speaker 1: the first antislavery pradition before the US Congress. He had 827 00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:55,640 Speaker 1: had slaves very early, two slaves who worked in his household, 828 00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:58,640 Speaker 1: but when he was young, But as he got older, 829 00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:01,400 Speaker 1: he began to think, this is an evil institution. And 830 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:03,760 Speaker 1: if you believe in the principles of the American Revolution, 831 00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,359 Speaker 1: if you believe in a declaration that says we're all 832 00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:09,680 Speaker 1: created equal, it's simply wrong. And at a time when 833 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:13,799 Speaker 1: it was still a very, very radical position, he was 834 00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: actively in favor of the abolition of slavery. Ultimately, in 835 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,880 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety he dies, Washington is now president, the country 836 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,760 Speaker 1: has established. He leaves behind a fair amount of wealth 837 00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:29,560 Speaker 1: for Sally and her husband, but he leaves behind for 838 00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:33,000 Speaker 1: the world a whole series of inventions and breakthroughs and 839 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:38,160 Speaker 1: understandings that are just astonishing and that ultimately improve the 840 00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:41,279 Speaker 1: lives of millions and millions of people. Gives you a 841 00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:45,680 Speaker 1: sense of why he is an immortal and somebody who 842 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:49,360 Speaker 1: really I think represents the best of the American tradition 843 00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:53,319 Speaker 1: of constant effort, constant dreaming, constant hard work to turn 844 00:52:53,360 --> 00:53:00,200 Speaker 1: the dreams into reality. Ninchweld is produced by getting Dard 845 00:53:00,239 --> 00:53:04,120 Speaker 1: three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guernsey Sloan. 846 00:53:04,440 --> 00:53:07,600 Speaker 1: Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 847 00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,080 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team 848 00:53:11,120 --> 00:53:14,239 Speaker 1: at Gingish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I 849 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:17,120 Speaker 1: hope you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us 850 00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,200 Speaker 1: with five stars and give us a review so others 851 00:53:20,239 --> 00:53:23,080 Speaker 1: can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of 852 00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:26,600 Speaker 1: news World can sign up for my three free weekly 853 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:31,960 Speaker 1: columns at gingersthree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Gingrish. 854 00:53:32,200 --> 00:53:33,320 Speaker 1: This is Newsworld.