Dawning of the Counter-culture: The 1960s

A lively survey of the eccentric politics and culture of ...


View

Purchase The Quintessential American for your eReader through:

The Quintessential American

Selections from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

by Benjamin Franklin

"Franklin seems to have a unique appeal,” writes the historian Gordon S. Wood. “He seems the most accessible, the most democratic, and the most folksy of the Founders. . . . Indeed, perhaps no person in American history has taken on such emblematic and imaginative significance for Americans as has Franklin.” Yet the man came late to his identity as an American, enjoying a wide circle of European contacts and living abroad more years than any other American leader. In his famous Autobiography he displays the iconic American virtues of thrift, ambition, hard work, self-improvement, and common sense. But the promotion of good morals in his book was, observed the North American Review in 1818, a fraud. “The groundwork of his character, during this period, was bad; and the moral qualities, which contributed to his rise, were of a worldly and very profitable kind.” In other words, like many of the Founders, aspects of Franklin’s character remain something of a puzzle. In these selections from his Autobiography, Franklin reflects upon his rise in the world and the self-taught lessons that brought his success.


The Quintessential American details:

ISBN: 978-1-937853-14-3

Words: 8,926

Pages: 19


Read a sample of  The Quintessential American >>

Tags:  autobiography - Ben Franklin - American Founders - Poor Richard